Deer Tracks in the Snow
by starkobsessed247
Summary: Tupyn Logreig is an Elven-Dwarf, Thorin Oakenshield has known her most of her life and he knows that she has natural skills that she's lucky to possess...so he invites her on the quest to reclaim Erebor. But what happens when his youngest nephew starts to fall for her? And what impact will her presence have on the quest? KíliXOC. Follows film storyline with extra bits added in.
1. Chapter 1

_**Deer Tracks in the Snow - Chapter 1**_

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_**This will follow the storyline of the movies although I'll be adding bits in because I figured that just what we see in the films isn't enough to develop a relationship. I have a few chapter of this writen already but it depends on how many people show an interest in this as to how much attention I put into it so if you want more chapters then please show your interest.**_

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The herd of wild ponies were grazing peacefully just inside the tree-line of the northern moors.

The early morning dew was drifting through the air in hypnotizing swirls as the tiny particles were picked up by tiny currents. The ponies were happily ripping the lush green shoots from the ground, safe in the knowledge that a threat from the moors could be avoided by bolting further into the forest and vice versa.

What they didn't have knowledge of was that a threat had been tracking them for three days and had finally got an ideal vantage point.

Her name was Tupyn Logreig, her mother had been an elf and her father a dwarf but she'd grown up around dwarves, inheriting the height and prowess of her father but the body and elegance of her mother. Through her odd combination of blood types, she'd inherited skills and from a young age had found that she had natural tracking and taming skills. She used the skills to her advantage and tracked ponies across the moors for weeks at a time to sell at markets.

She knew, as she watched the ponies graze, that if she wanted to earn enough money to live for the next month, she _had _to catch and tame one of them.

She gentle pushed her own pony, Foggy, a tiny step forward with a tiny squeeze of her knees and a lean of her weight. She smiled as she decided which one she wanted.

He was a beautiful creature; white as snow and built like a horse much bigger than himself, he was one of the best animals she'd seen in a fair while. His body heaved a breath and sent the particles of dew around him into an entrancing frenzy.

Tupyn leant back and gripped her looped rope, grabbing the reins and the pommel of her worn leather saddle in the other hand.

Foggy shifted beneath her in anticipation of the chase; preparing for the swift kick that would send him racing ahead.

But that never came.

Above her sounded the call of a carrier hawk. Emerald eyes flicked skywards and she froze; on the hawks leg was a tag bearing the royal crest.

She groaned and slumped. _What could a royal heir possibly want with her?_ The message was surely meant for her; she'd been tracking the herd for almost thirty miles, there was no other living being for nigh on ten. It had to be for her.

She heard the ponies bolt onto the moor and realised her mistake of making a sound. Foggy seemed to have the exact same sinking feeling and snorted, his shoulders going slack and his head dipping. "Sorry Fogs." She said, patting his neck. "No chase today." She muttered some near silent curses and cupped her hands to her lips; whistling and calling the bird above her.

She held her arm out and watched the bird slip through an opening in the trees before gripping the joint of her thumb, talons ripping her flesh as he steadied himself.

The hawk looked to her and screeched. She moved away from the sound and chuckled. "Okay," She said, stroking the knuckle of her forefinger over its head and then down to his crest. "It's alright."

She tugged the note out of the tag and opened it. She saw it was addressed to her and smiled to the bird. "Thank you." she said. The bird seemed to understand and bowed his head before letting her lift her hand into the air to give him a helping hand into flight.

He screeched a call before disappearing above the trees.

She smiled and looked down to the note.

_'Tupyn,' _it read. She recognised the handwriting. She hadn't seen him in years but she still recognised it. _'I do hope you're well. I have a proposition for you. I've arranged a meeting tonight. You know where. I'd appreciate it if you made an appearance._

_'Thorin, son of Thrain.'_

Tupyn chewed on her lip and looked into the woods around her. She'd been an untrusting person for years and Thorin was one of the few people she trusted, wholly, with all her being. But why would he want her? Why would he call a meeting in the first place? What on earth was he planning?

She groaned and went a little limper in the saddle. He knew what to do to get her attention. He knew that he had to urge her curiosity and he'd done that like a professional; his message was vague and didn't explain anything, her curiosity had been provoked after the tenth word. She fell back against Foggy's back and stared to the sky before deciding what she was going to do.

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Thorin was sat at the head of the table, Gandalf sat next to him and his twelve volunteers sat around him. The moonlight was seeping through the window behind him, shining its white light on the table despite the presence of candles in practically every possible place and a roaring fire to his left. The dwarves who had agreed to be in his company were conversing between themselves while he discussed important matters with Gandalf. Occasionally his gaze would flick over to the door which he still hoped would open one final time.

The wizard next to him puffed a series of smoke rings before turning to the king. "Do you expect her to show?" he asked quietly.

Thorin eyed up the door again. "I'm relying on it." There was a sudden roar of laughter from his right and his head snapped round, the noise catching him off guard. He watched his two nephews sway on their chairs at the hilarity of whatever had been said or done to make them and Bofer howl so loudly.

Balin turned to him. "Are you sure she's worth the wait, Thorin?" he asked in his thick accent.

Thorin tore his eyes away from his energetic nephews and looked to the elderly Dwarf. He had a never ending amount of respect for Balin but his confidence in the woman he expected to show was overpowering and he had to deny his companion of his opinion. "She is _most definitely_ worth the wait." He assured. The white- haired Dwarf nodded slightly, respecting his leader. "However," Thorin sighed. "I shall address the others soon and if she is not here, then she is simply too late."

He looked at the ale and empty plate before him and frowned. He did not want to eat, his insides felt like they were his outsides but he kept his strong facade none the less. He preoccupied himself with a random spot on the table and slumped against the armrest in thought.

He knew it was strange to be asking someone of such unusual decent to join them on the quest. Her mother had been an Elf while her father had been a Dwarf. She had been raised Dwarf when her mother had abandoned her and her father had been one of Thorin's close personal friends, they worked together and Thorin saw Tupyn and her brothers quite a lot as they were growing up. It was a sad day when they died.

There was a loud thump that made everyone go silent. The big wooden door opened and a small smile spread across Thorin's lips as he sat up in his chair. He overlooked the fact that Gandalf had stopped smoking and had a small, proud smile spreading discretely across his face.

She walked in like a ghost. She barely made a sound as she slipped in. Her long brown hair was expertly held in a six-braid plait and she wore breeches, a long dark red tunic that fell to just above mid-thigh, leather boots and a coat of the same material that came to just above her knees. This was the first time Thorin had seen Tupyn in quite some time. He had occasionally heard that she was back in town but she never stayed for long – only to trade the ponies she had tracked and tamed – before she set off again.

She had grown up to be a rather beautiful young woman with soft looks and the slender body of an Elf; she had inherited the height of her father and held herself with his prowess and pride. There were a few reasons Thorin had asked her to join his company; she had natural taming and tracking skills, she was able to read nature like a book and had a remarkable connection with animals that made her able to tame and break them in with ease.

She took slow steps towards the foot of the table with the eyes of every man in the room planted on her. Her eyes however, kept focused on Thorin. She took a few breaths; she had clearly rushed and was still trying to get the rest of her breath back. "Sorry," she said after a moment. She shifted and her gaze flew quickly around the faces of the other dwarves before settling on Thorin again. "I was tracking ponies on the moors." She looked slightly cautious about what the company minus Thorin and Gandalf would think of her, a woman, a half Elven woman no less.

Thorin was still in slight awe that she had shown but he managed to answer. He stood. "Well, it's good to see you again." He said.

She nodded an acknowledgement. "And you." she replied. For the first time in a long while, Thorin had no idea what he was going to say. Her eyes broke from his and scanned the room. Her gaze met with every man in the room before she looked back to Thorin. He swallowed and nodded in a gesture for her to come towards him.

She did so, ignoring everyone's stares as she moved to the head of the table. She was an inch or two shorter than him and her eyes were a wonderful shade of dark green. He could see the small smile that was inching its way onto her lips. He couldn't help himself but laugh heartily as they moved quickly together and enveloped each other in a hug.

The tension that had risen in the room spiked and then fell into complete relief. She laughed into his shoulder and patted his back as they greeted each other. They pulled away and he held her at arm's length to get a proper look at her. "You have grown since we last met." He said.

She smiled as a blush rose softly to her cheeks. "And time has treated you well." She complimented him. She smiled genuinely and her eyes flickered to his clothes. "Oh," She said, looking down at herself. "My apologies, I've covered you in pony hair." She said after noticing the relatively large grey hairs that were clinging to his torso. "I had no time to get changed after tracking."

The sound in the room started to return as whispers before gradually returning back to how it was before Tupyn's arrival.

The king smiled. "It's fine, I know you did not expect my message."

"No, I didn't." They both took seats. Tupyn sat next to Balin while Thorin placed himself next to Gandalf. "Though the message was rather . . . _vague_." Her eyes shot to Gandalf who had gone back to smoking with the smile still on his face.

Thorin shot knowing look to Tupyn before nodding to Balin who picked the contract up. "That's where I come in, lass." He placed the contract in front of her. "Every man in this room has signed one."

She looked to Thorin. "And what's it for?" she asked, slight confusion evident on her face.

"Read and find out." He said. He knew how to tempt the young Elven-Dwarf and he had every ambition to do so.

She looked down at the parchment; her gaze scanning over it. He saw her eyes widen. "_Erebor?" _she turned to him. "You're asking me to go with you to retake _Erebor_?" she spoke in a way that seemed to be questioning if he was still sane.

He smirked, ignoring her tone as looked her straight in the eye. "Think about it Tupyn." He said in a low, almost inaudible voice. "_Erebor."_ He rolled the word over of his tongue. He knew how to play her and Mahal himself could not stop him from doing so. "Think about the prize that awaits us; the prize that was stolen from us . . . _all of us._" He could see her thinking as her gaze focused into the middle-distance, the cogs in her mind working overtime. "You could be amongst us when we retake our home. Think about the glory, Tupyn."

She shot him a glance and he gave her a look that seemed to say 'it's your choice'. She swallowed hard before blowing a breath through her lips and rubbing her face with her hands, breaking his gaze. Her touch faltered over her eyes as she thought for a moment. He watched as her fingers slipped from her cheeks and her eyes moved back to the contract.

Her lips moved gently as she read and a frown soon made itself known. Thorin watched her closely as her eyes flitted across the parchment.

"Does the lass want a drink?" Came Dwalin's voice suddenly and she seemed to relax slightly as she looked away from the page and to the tattooed Dwarf that had asked the question. Balin scolded him, earning a stern, challenging look from the most intimidating of the dwarves at the table. The brothers were locked in their staring contest for a moment and Thorin sighed and closed his eyes. All he wanted was for Tupyn to sign the contract, he didn't need brotherly feuds every five minutes, he had enough trouble watching to make sure than Fíli and Kíli weren't making mischief let alone having to break up every single other set of siblings and relations in his company.

"Yes please." Tupyn answered after watching the brothers for a moment. Everyone within ear range who had seen the stares that Balin and Dwalin were shooting at each other changed their focus to the woman.

The two brothers relaxed and Dwalin spoke again. "Wine?" he asked.

She shook her head. "Ale will be fine." He stared at her for a moment before reaching and grabbing a mug of the stronger drink. He passed it to her and she took a gulp before looking back to the contract and placing the mug next to it.

Thorin leant his elbow on the table and placed his cheek on his palm. He watched as she finally got to the end of the contract.

She took a deep breath and sighed before looking to the king. "And why do you want me?"

Thorin smirked. "You know why." He said quietly.

She sat back in the chair, slouching slightly. "You want my skills." She said in a disappointed tone, rolling her eyes discretely. Thorin didn't want to say anything, he knew how to play her but she could be strangely manipulative when she wanted to be. She turned to look at him again, her eyes piercing his own. "You know my past Thorin, you know I don't take lightly to people wanting and using my skills." She warned.

"Yes, I do know your past." He said with a firm tone and she looked him in the eyes. "I also remember what part that _I _have played in it."

"Thorin, what you did for me has nothing to do with this. It doesn't change the fact that you simply want my skills."

"Tupyn," he addressed sternly. "_You_ are your skills. You may be a natural born tracker and tamer but I'm not discriminative. I do not wish for just your skills. You are one of the few people I trust. There are many men I could find who can read the earth and many more who know the trade of taming but I have never seen anyone track the field mice that follow the migrations of the deer and I've never seen anyone gain the trust of a stag, nor have I ever known anyone with the fire that burns within _you_ and yet posses the level of mercy that you do." He sighed and looked away for a second. "However, this has to be your choice. I can attempt to persuade you as much as I want but if your head is not completely with us then it could be a fatal mistake. If you truly do not want to join us then I cannot force you to come."

She looked into the distance; her expression had softened at his words. After a moment she looked straight at him. "Thorin." She said in the same tone he had said her name. "You're asking me to go on a quest to travel with a bunch of Dwarves, along miles of land with the ultimate aim to _fight _a _dragon_." Thorin's hope at her joining them was shrinking the more she spoke. "My skills with a bow and arrow are hardly professional and for the last several years I have practiced my sword skills on trees and _bushes_. If I had one _shred_ of _sense_ or _maturity_, I would run away from you right this moment . . ." she took a deep breath, gesturing into the door in the direction she would have run.

She looked up to the king, sighed and smiled slightly. "but I don't and I haven't and I have _nothing_ better to do so I'm going to remember what you have done for me in my past . . . _predicaments_ . . . and honour you, the man I have known almost since I was born and I'm going to drink ale and enjoy company for the first time in however many years. You're asking me if my head is completely in the task ahead. I reply simply by saying that it may well be and it may well _not_ be, but I'm going _come with you_ and the simple matter of my _skills _or my _maturity _or my _sense _is most definitely not going to stop me." He smiled widely and she grinned back. "Where do I sign?" she asked.

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_**Alright, chapter 1. I know that this was a relatively Kíli-less chapter but he will be in the next one so don't worry. I love Kíli's character and have really enjoyed the chapters i've already writen. Please show if you're interested by reviewing, following and favouriting, if you do then chapters will be quicker and more frequent. I have other Fanfictions up and if they get more support then I'll concentrate on them them more than this so please do show support. Thank you.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Deer Tracks in the Snow **_

_**Chapter 2 - Ponies**_

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Tupyn Logreig had been alone for many years. She was more than capable of caring for herself and the house she lived in. The small residence was big enough for a reasonably small family though at that moment in time, it was just her. She lived a sensible life, tracking herds of ponies over the moors and then taming and breaking them in for trade – spending weeks at a time away from home.

Tupyn's father- Fasin- had been a Dwarf and her mother- Cedia- had been an Elf. Let's just say she was happy she got her mother's body and her father's height rather than vice versa, she's also glad she _didn't_ suddenly start sprouting a beard. Her mother had given her the Taming skills and her father the skills to track. She'd had brothers; two of them- Rean and Brean. They went down with her father and her mother had quite simply disappeared not long after before that. Tupyn had been the woman of the house since then and had looked after her brothers and the house and cooked and cleaned- so the only difference, after _they_ died, was the absence of the liveliness of her younger brothers and the authority of her father.

She did well on her own though. Market day was always good- occasionally she got people buying ponies from her door but she always managed to sell on market day.

The market itself was on the outskirts of the city, with stalls laden with weapons and jewellery and food with enticing smells. Each one was handmade or crafted by the Dwarf selling them and that made everything even more impressive. Market day was always the best day; Tupyn had been going since before she had been trading ponies. Her father used to sell the weapons he forged or crafted and would take her and her brothers to teach them the ways of trade.

She always woke early but the knowledge of what day it was always made her rouse before she needed. The morning light was seeping through the glass of Tupyn's bedroom window. She sat up in her bed and ran a hand through her hair. She assessed the sunlight and guessed at how cold it would be despite the sun. She walked to the wardrobe and pulled out a pair of breeches and a long, dark green tunic that had a hand embroidered pattern along the base and the neckline. Over the tunic she laced a black bodice before she grabbed her fur-lined and before walked out of the bedroom and into the front room.

She placed the boots by the front door before moving into the kitchen and grabbing the tin of raisin bread from beneath the tea towel. She cut four slices off and buttered them, wrapping two of them in a clean piece of cloth and placing them in the pouch tied to the rope belt that hung just at the base of her bodice, sitting atop the tunic.

She stopped outside the kitchen door and looked around- what she could see of- the house. Most surfaces were made of wood and there was a stack of fire wood in the corner near the window. There were candles on the ends of every shelf and wax had dripped over the edges. There was an arm chair and a small sofa with a few chairs and stools. Any others that had once been used to accommodate any visiting friends had been broken and used as firewood when Tupyn's recourses had dwindled during the winter months. She took a deep breath and swallowed.

There was an overpowering silence; which certainly wasn't aided by the absence of the morning birdsong that would surely start within the next hour.

But the quiet had been there for many years. A lot had happened very quickly when her father and brothers died. She travelled for a few years afterwards, knowing that returning to the house that had once been filled with the happiness of her younger brothers and memories of the father that had raised her would be too much. She stayed with Thorin for just over a week when she returned before she felt like she could fully go home.

She shook the thoughts out of her head, pushing the last bite of the raisin bread into her mouth. She pulled her boots on and grabbed her coat before she left the house. Thorin had said that their quest would start in three days which gave her a while to get as much money as she could selling off her remaining ponies she had and buying any resources that she might need.

She moved to the back of the house and clicked her tongue. She heard Foggy snort and his head poked from the first small stable that she'd had constructed behind house for the many ponies that came in and out. "How's things?" She asked the black pony who snorted again and disappeared back into the shadow of the stall. Tupyn laughed. "C'mon lazy," She persuaded. _"Market day!_" She sang.

The pony reappeared quickly at the mention of the market; market day meant that he got to spend the entire day eating hay. She laughed and unbolted the door, gesturing for him to follow her out of the stall. If she did say so herself, her ponies were very well trained and having spent almost seven years with Foggy, she'd been able to teach him many more things than she had time to teach the others; he knew how to read her behaviour as well as she could read his, he could interpret her gestures and signals and she'd moulded him entirely to herself.

He stood where he knew he needed to be and she pulled the worn saddle from the post and heaved it onto his back. She chuckled as she strapped the girth. "You're getting podgy, Fogs." She said with a smirk and pinched his stomach.

The pony let out an almost shocked whiny and swung his head around to nip her thigh. "Oi!" She exclaimed. "Don't bite." She couldn't help a chuckle at the pony's behaviour despite the fact that she was supposed to scold him for biting.

She finished placing the saddle and bridle on Foggy and then started sorting the ponies he planned to sell. She placed the woven bridles over their heads and chewed her lip as she tried to figure out how to get them all to the market. She sighed and decided to simply let them follow her on Foggy.

There were five ponies - two she had personally broken and three she had bought and healed and fed and trained to trust and be trusted. She had made her way down to the market with them all following close behind, she only occasionally needed to look behind her to check they were still there. She'd never taken so many to sell in one day, she'd only ever taken two and she normally just tied one to either side of the saddle.

She had a small plot around mid-way through the market with her horses separated by rope. She'd already sold two mares and a colt and she was holding the remaining two by their bridles. To attract attention to her, she needed to make noise which was not easy over the sound of the other – mostly male – dwarves trying to sell their goods. "Come on, gents!" She shouted as she heard a slight dim in everyone else's announcements. "Two fine stallions, personally trained by myself! As sturdy as any others you'll find in this market!" She looked one man in the eyes as he walked past but he simply looked away, dismissing her with a wave of his podgy hand.

The sound of the other salesmen and woman picked up once again, amongst the ruckus, she heard a woman shouting about seasonal strawberries and a man announcing his possession of several specially crafted arrows. She looked up for a moment, watching the dust and hay pieces float in the sunlight filtering through the thatched straw that provided shade in the sun and shelter if it rained.

She cast her gaze fully towards the sky and momentarily let go of the bridles of her two ponies, knowing that they were too distracted by hay to go anywhere. She spotted a small flock of birds and smiled, realising a way to get attention. Tupyn reached behind her and picked up a biscuit. She cupped her hands and lifted them too her lips, blowing a soft breath into her fingers. A soft whistle vibrated inside her hands and echoed around the walls of the market.

She spotted the birds again, their small bodies slicing through the air, majestically avoiding one another and swooping down. Tupyn crushed the biscuit and threw it up into the space above the onlooker's heads. The birds moved themselves towards the suspended pieces of biscuit, gliding collectively as a group. They seemed to transform into a ball of wings and tiny bodies as they circled the crumbs, plucking each piece from the air with skill. The sunlight reflected off of their black blue, waxy wings and they chirped and whistled in a beautiful cacophony that both terrified and mystified Tupyn as well as the onlookers who had the spectacle occurring straight above their heads.

They moved slightly out of the ball, morphing and distorting and becoming an abstract shape that corrupted and seemed to become like two fighting animals; dissipating into other parts before returning into the flawless shape it had been before.

In a matter of seconds, the crumbs were all gone and the ball of collaborating birds disintegrated to leave all of them to fly off in a collective group the opposite way they had entered.

There was silence for a second as everyone stared, stunned by the show. Tupyn smiled, she just had to hope that the birds had attracted enough attention to her stall for her to get rid of the two ponies.

A collection of slow, shocked claps started from the crowd, inspiring a roar of applause to start. Tupyn stepped forward and took a swift bow before returning to her post and taking the bridles of the ponies.

The applause soon died down and the steady stream of people started to move again. Every single person completely ignored the two ponies in her hands, only ever casting somewhat cautious and respectful glances at her.

After five minutes she realised she wasn't going to get rid of the ponies so she sighed and closed her eyes for a second. "Sorry boys." She apologised to the animals. "It seems people just don't want to pay for yous. Let's just assume that you're both that well groomed and trained that people don't think they have the money to buy such fine animals." She patted their necks. "Yes, that sounds like a nice excuse." She started to untie the halter rope from the chocolate coloured pony.

"You know, they're not going to reply." An oddly familiar voice spoke from Tupyn's left. She turned to see Thorin's blond nephew walking towards her with his brother next to him.

She cocked her head and left the rope where it was. "You're Thorin's boys aren't you?" she said with a small smile.

"His nephews, yes, Miss Logreig." The brown haired one said.

"Please, call me Tupyn. If we're going to be travelling together we may as well know everybody by their first names." There was a short pause. "And I'm ever so sorry but you're both going to have to refresh me on yours."

"Of course. Fíli."

"Kíli."

"_At your service." _They chorused as they bowed low to the ground, making Tupyn chuckle. The pair straightened up and walked forward.

"That was quite a performance." The one with the name Kíli said. "I'm assuming it was you who tempted the birds into the square?"

She smiled and bowed her head lightly. "Yes, it was me."

"How did you do it?" Fíli asked. "You're a tamer aren't you? Not a performing animal act."

She frowned slightly; he seemed to have missed the fact that the birds were only called to attract attention to her stall. "Definitely not, I simply found out a few years ago that the whistle I used to call them signified 'food'. They do a similar trick whenever anyone who knows the call does it."

Kíli looked impressed and his brother mirrored him a little but was mostly surprised at the formal, slightly defensive tone she had used. "Of course," Fíli said, bowing slightly in respect. "My mistake."

Kíli decided at that moment to jump to his brother's aid by gesturing to the ponies held by their halter ropes in Tupyn's hands and stating their entire reason for being there. "I take it that these are up for sale?" he said, flashing her a questioning glance. She looked to the bay pony that he gestured to and nodded. "They both are, yes."

"May we take a look?" he asked and she nodded once again.

The two brothers ducked under the rope line penning the ponies in. They examined the ponies' analysing their hooves and teeth and knees. "How old?" Fíli asked.

Tupyn took a step back and leaned against the back wall, feeling the rough stone beneath her fingertips. "The gray is four and the bay is five."

"Did you train them yourself?" the other brother queried as he stood up from bending the pony's knee.

She nodded. "Both of them actually. I usually take them on from other trainers and train them from what they've taught but these two came from the moors where I track and I broke them in myself."

Kíli shot her an impressed look and bit his lip in concentration as he looked at the pony. "Ok, you've sold it Miss Logreig. I'll give you 20 coins for the bay."

This was the part that Tupyn liked most. "You may be Thorin's nephews but I won't give you a discount because of it."

"22."

She cocked her head. "Have you ever done this before?" she heard a scoff of delight from Fíli who was seeming to enjoy watching his younger brother get shown up.

Kíli sighed "25."

"Money doesn't buy time." She said, her experience at haggling showing. "And I put many hours of my time into make these the perfect long haul ponies. You do want them for the trip to Erebor, do you not?" Both brothers looked at her, seemingly astounded by her knowledge. "These are young but experienced, I promise you that I do not lie and think of it this way, if anything happens to any of these two on the trip then I will know exactly how to fix it." She smiled slightly. "30 coins." she named her own price.

"For both of them, I hope." Kíli was taken aback by her high price and he chuckled as if the price was ridiculous for a single horse.

She sucked on her cheek. "You can have both of them . . . the gray and the bay . . . for." She thought. "50 coins, that's 25 for each."

The brothers looked to each other before nodding. _"It's a deal."_ They said in chorus and Tupyn smiled as she shook their separate hands and they handed over the 25 each for their ponies.

"Nice doing business with you lads." She said as she pocketed the money.

Fíli frowned. "Are you not going to count it?" he asked confused.

Tupyn cocked and eyebrow. "Why? Should I? Do you give me reason to?"

"No, it's just that most people in trading are very sceptic of the people they sell to." He said.

Tupyn smirked. "I can't rely on scepticism. It's infectious. When selling horses - and most other goods for that matter – you have to have faith in the people that you're selling to and they will have faith in you in return. If they don't think that the products that you're selling them are good enough to have faith in then they won't buy." She began to take the bridle from over the head of the bay pony and pulled him gently by his nostril to Kíli who had started unbuckling a bridle from his belt loop.

Tupyn noticed. "You came to the market looking for ponies then?"

Kíli sighed and nodded as he started putting the leather over the pony's muzzle. "We suddenly realised this morning that our ponies are moving towards the end of their time and that they likely wouldn't make the quest." He explained as he ran his hand down the neck of the pony.

Tupyn's lips lifted in a discrete small smile. He had good horsemanship, she had no doubt that the pony was in good hands. She could see the slight faltering in his fingers though as he looked slightly doubtfully into the horse eyes. She could tell that he was a little guilty about the fact that the young colt would soon be put though unimaginable things.

Tupyn's attention was suddenly averted as Fíli handed her the bridle from the grey pony. She took it, feeling the warmth dissipating from it as she fumbled with the tightly woven fibres. "I take it that you have previous experience with ponies then?" she said.

She could feel the sadness at letting her ponies go creeping up on her, it was like letting go of a child and she was just grasping at straws to get reassurance that they would be in conscious hands. People never really stayed long enough after they had purchased a pony for her to feel the sadness but Fíli and Kíli were lingering, not that was a big problem.

They both nodded and Fíli answered. "Thorin taught us actually." That was the type of reassuring reply that she needed and she felt herself relax.

"Then I trust you." She bowed her head slightly as a sign of respect and the boys returned the gesture before turning and beginning to walk away.

She sighed as she watched her ponies get led away and she decided to heal the lingering pain by eating her last piece of raisin bread. She didn't realise that Kíli had waited.

"Thank you, Miss Logreig." He spoke and she spun to face him, a jitter running through her body at the words. She wasn't sure what to say. "I look forward to travelling with you." She felt herself calm at his words as a kind look passed over his face. She nodded and watched as he turned and walked away.

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_**So, I figured I'd give you another taster. I've only had one review so far (thank you very much 'ilovepoland' for actually listening for my plea for reviews) and you've got this chapter because I was fuelled by your follows, favourites and reviews to finish editing it. Yet again I'm going to beg. Please review, you really do have no idea just how much they fuel creativity. If you want more chapters, please review!**_


	3. Chapter 3 - Training

_**Chapter 3 - Training**_

_**(I forgot to put disclaimers. I do not own any characters that make any kind of appearence in any of Tolkeins work. I do, however, own Tupyn Logreig, her past, her present and her future.)**_

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Tupyn groaned as she pushed the saddle onto Foggy's back. She let go of the breath she had been holding and lifted up the weight of the leather. She blew the air past her lips and looked around for the bridle and reins, spotting them and placing them over Foggy's muzzle. Foggy was a dark grey animal with a slight dapple in his pattern and a deep black mane and tail. She scratched under his chin groove and the pony moved to her touch.

She led him out of the small stable and checked that all of her equipment was in the carry bags behind the saddle. It was just after dawn so the training ground would likely be empty and she could avoid the stares of the training men. She pulled her fur-lined coat on before mounting and placing her booted feet into the stirrups. She urged him into a walk and let him calmly plod his way along.

There were a few people in the town but the majority of other people were sleeping. She greeted the tradesmen good morning as she passed the early risers and they each greeted her back. The blacksmith asked her how Foggy's new shoes were and she replied simply that they were 'doing their job' with a smirk that was returned.

The streets were cobbled and stained with the dirt from under foot with the occasional patches of greenery peeking through the gaps in the stone. The houses were - most of them - small enough for single men though there were a few that were made to accommodate families like hers had once been like.

She started to whistle quietly to herself and looked up to the clear blue sky that was visible through the lines of houses. Foggy's pace faltered slightly as Tupyn tensed her calf muscles when two young children ran in their path. The mother followed, quickly grasping the smallest ones wrist and looking at her with a scolding frown. The mother looked up to Tupyn on Foggy and sighed. "Sorry." She said honestly, ordering the slightly older child to stop misbehaving.

Tupyn smiled. "Honestly, it's fine."

The mother looked at her thankfully before leading the two children briskly away. Tupyn smirked and pushed Foggy into a walk again.

She made it to the training ground and flung her leg over Foggy's back and landed firmly on the grass. It was a large arena- type place with grass around the outskirts where it had grown in the sand that covered the ground. The actual building was built out of dark grey stone and around the edge of the sandy area were rows of seats. She tied the pony to the wooden stake outside the entrance with a lot of loose rope so he could move around and graze.

She unclipped the quiver of arrows from the saddlebags along with her bow and hooked them both over her shoulder before taking out her sword and sliding it into its sheath.

As planned, everything was abandoned. Tupyn walked through a small passage was a separate area where three straw targets were. Trying to keep steady footing so sand didn't get sand into her boots, she looked around the archery section. It was an open area with a wall behind the target to stop any stray arrows.

She took a few deep breaths. She hadn't been down to the training ground for many years, not since she was told to go down with her brothers. She'd avoided the ground since then, instead practicing both sword and archery skills on simple trees and bushes.

She efficiently buckled her bracers to her wrist to protect the fragile skin against the lash of the bowstring when she would release the arrow. She reached back and grabbed and arrow before fitted it into her bow, watching the green and blue blended fletching from the corner of her eye as she drew her arm back. She took a deep breath as she aimed before releasing and hearing that wondrous sound of sting and arrow slicing through the air before the low thud and then silence as the arrow wedged itself into the straw target.

She smiled as she saw that the arrow had hit just right of the bullseye but her smile dropped as she realised that if she was being attacked, she would be dead by the time she had fired. So she tried a new technique.

Tupyn braced herself and lowered her bow and relaxed her arms. She closed her eyes and counted down from five. Her eyes shot open as her hand shot to her arrows as she raised her bow and plucked an arrow from the quiver, efficiently sliding the nook into the string, drawing back and firing.

She didn't even pay attention to where it had hit, she simply repeated the same action of grabbing an arrow and firing again and again and again until she had no arrows left.

She sighed as she looked to where the arrows had hit. All but one had struck the target but it was safe to say that only three would have struck a fatal blow.

She strode forward and plucked each of the arrows from the target and the ground, placing them back into her quiver.

It was then that she heard the sound of swords clashing from the main arena and she spun to face whoever had caused it. She spotted Fíli dropping two swords onto the ground and frowned. She wondered why he was on his own and then Kíli walked in. That wasn't a problem due to the fact that of all members of the company that she would soon be travelling with, the youngest heirs of Durin were the ones that she knew the least.

Tupyn glance over once more to see Kíli join Fíli holding two bags full of tightly packed straw, setting them down next to the weapons that Fíli had bought in. She leant against the wall and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Are you two following me?" she asked, causing the boys to look over to her. Both of them opened their mouths to answer but were cut off by a familiar, unseen voice. "Following you?" The two nephews and the Elven-Dwarf looked over to see Thorin stroll in before continuing. "When did you see them after the meeting?"

Tupyn chuckled. "I'll have you know that your nephews purchased two of my finest colts yesterday."

Thorin looked to his nephews with an unsure gaze. "You bought from Tupyn?" the boys nodded. "Are you sure that was wise?"

Tupyn rolled her eyes and pushed herself off of the wall. "Be quiet, Thorin."

The boys' eyes shot open at her tone only to bulge when he paid no attention to it and chuckled as she began to walk over to him. Fíli and Kíli sighed as their uncle gestured for them to begin practicing.

Thorin looked over to the Elven-Dwarf as she moved to stand beside him. "What are you doing here?" he asked.

She smiled. "Believe it or not, I grew sick of shooting arrows at trees and hacking the branches off of bushes."

The king-in-exile gave a low chuckle before taking a breath. "I've made a decision." He said suddenly and Tupyn's gaze shot up to him while his own remained firmly on his nephews, his arms folded tight across his chest.

"Was it a _wise _decision?" she asked, mimicking his tone and facial expression.

"It has the potential to be a _very wise _decision." He said, ignoring her mock impression of him.

"Oh?" she spoke, suddenly interested in what this decision was and why it concerned her.

"Hmm." He took another breath before pulling his gaze away from Fíli and Kíli. "We are to travel to Hobbiton in a few days time after a quick change of plan from Gandalf. We will travel down in groups" He said. "You are to travel with Fíli and Kíli." Had she been talking to someone else, Tupyn would have questioned why it was so important but she knew that he would elaborate. "You are all of a similar age meaning that individually your hearing and sight is also similar, as well as your maturity. I believe that you will all work better together than if I separated you amongst the older dwarves." Thorin looked back up to his nephews. _"Hold your stance Kíli!" _

Tupyn jumped violently at the shout that she was unprepared for. She watched as Kíli took a step back as his brother stopped attacking. They both took off their coats, feeling the heat of the morning sun way too much to be comfortable. The brunet looked to the floor before correcting his posture and moving once more to attack.

Tupyn watched the pair as they trained. She wasn't exactly around when Thorin was training Fíli and Kíli and if observing was as close as she could get, she was going to grab the chance and learn as much from them as possible.

She observed as they twisted and collided, the only sounds being their clashing swords and grunts of effort. She had no doubt that when they worked as a pair to defeat a mutual foe, their display was much more elegant but even when mock fighting each other, and Tupyn was entranced by their movements. Even without them being out to kill, their display was baffling but beautiful in its unpredictability.

For a moment, Tupyn's gaze was pulled into the middle distance that belonged to memories as she remembered her brothers practicing in the same arena. Fíli and Kíli momentarily morphed into the strawberry blond and sandy brunet boys that Tupyn knew as her brothers.

A lump rose in her throat and Tupyn shook her head against the tears that were preparing to well. She made a slightly strangled sound and Thorin noticed. He glanced down at her, clearly concerned. "Are you alright?" he asked, his voice rumbling in his throat.

Tupyn turned her head away in case the threatening tears had made her eyes go bloodshot. "Fine." She answered simply.

He knew she was lying. For years, her once fond memories of childhood had become dark and plagued with the sorrow that followed any type of mourning. Every memory reminded her that she was alone.

She looked back to Fíli and Kíli, ignoring Thorin's concerned gaze as it drilled into her temple. The brothers attacked and defended, dodging and twisting, circling and swinging.

Tupyn frowned as she noticed both brothers begin to pant heavily as their power dwindled. It was a hot morning which didn't aid their cause considering that dwarves were built for the cold. Even in just their thin shirts, the heat was affecting them, especially as they were putting in as much effort as they were. It was apparent that they weren't going to stop out of exhaustion. She leant over to Thorin's ear.

"Breaking and training a horse takes a firm hand, Thorin. But a to-far-broken horse is of no use at all." She whispered gently, keeping her eyes firmly on the boys.

Thorin glanced up to her line of vision and saw his struggling nephews. He sighed, realising that she was right. "Take a break, boys!" he announced, shocking his nephews. "You'll need your strength for later." They sheathed their swords, waiting for more orders that soon came, Thorin nodded towards the archery chamber. "Set up the hay bags and practice you're other skills with them."

Tupyn's eyes met Kíli's and he smiled, thanks in his gaze and features like he knew that she had spoken to Thorin and persuaded him to let them rest. She smiled back, their gazes being torn apart as Fíli pushed his brother into movement.

Tupyn turned back to Thorin. "So when do we leave?"

_"You."_ He corrected quickly.

"Sorry, what?"

Thorin turned to her. "You. I am not going straight to Hobbiton; I am leaving tonight to go to a meeting in Ered Luin to get as much support from our kinsmen as is possible to rally."

She smiled. "Alright, when do the rest of us leave?"

"Three days, there will be a gathering before you set out in your groups. You should have all of your things ready for the quest by that time, make sure your pony is well fed and you have enough supplies at least for Hobbiton if not as much of the journey as you can."

Tupyn gnawed on her bottom lip in thought. "I can do that."

The pair, once again engulfed each other in a hug. Thorin was as close to a father as Tupyn had. "I wish you a safe trip." She spoke as they each pulled back. "Don't get lost."

Thorin chuckled. "Never."

She smiled wide and glanced over to Kíli who released an arrow and shot precisely on the bulls eyes. She gave a short cough, and swallowed. "I'm going to practice. Maybe your nephews can teach me something." She joked, Thorin laughed with her as she walked towards the boys in the back.

There was a thump as she stepped through the doorway and a small axe lodged itself in the hay bag next to the targets. She looked to see Fíli step back with a happy smile on his face as Kíli loaded up a new arrow. As she moved to lean against the wall behind him, Kíli heard and cocked an eyebrow as he turned to look to her. "Sorry," She said. "Do you mind?"

He shook his head and gave a slight shrug. "Not at all." He cast a glance down to her own equipment in the corner. "You're an archer aren't you?" He didn't wait for a reply. "Practice on that that target if you want." He nodded to the target next to the one he was using and then went back to his aiming.

She chewed her lip for a moment and then plucked up her quiver and clipped it over her torso before gently grabbing her bow and moving to the mark on the ground where she needed to stand.

She knocked an arrow and pulled back, closing her non-dominant eye and lined up. She held it for a moment but just as she was about to release; she heard a voice behind her. "Relax your bow arm." He all but ordered in a whisper, his breath brushing her ear.

She jumped slightly and felt his hand on her bow arm. She could feel him behind her, the heat from his body soaking into her back as his hand flitted over her hip, the action hidden by his body so his brother couldn't see. He trailed the fingers of his spare hand over the tense muscles of her arm and they tensed further before slowly relaxing completely under his touch. "Now breathe."

She did as he bade and heaved a breath. "Slowly." He said, moving closer to her ear. "Release." He whispered and she did so without a second thought, the bowstring slipping from the leather finger tabs and forcing the arrow through the air.

There was a thump and the arrow collided with the target and Tupyn muttered a curse of surprise in Khuzdul as she realised that it was bang in the centre. Kíli laughed. "Never done that before?"

She shook her head. "Definitely not."

Suddenly his presence was gone and she found herself craving more. She shook the thoughts away and swallowed. "Thank you." She said, flicking her gaze towards him as he knocked an arrow.

He shot her a smile that complimented the constant smirk in his eyes and her stomach jumped before relaxing as she attempted to concentrate back on her bow.

She couldn't.

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_**So, chapter 3. I'm not exactly happy with this but at the minute I'm a little confused in regards to about five chapters I've set out because I made changes to the overall plot about six months ago and altered the chapters acordingly, sadly I missed some bits when I changed them again (Hence why it said that Tupyn's mother was human in the last chapter rather than an Elf. I've fixed this now but thanks to ro781727 for pointing that out). **_

_**Yet again I'm going to plead, you have to review! I'm really serious, reviews are what keep people going and even if it's to tell me what I can do better, I need your reviews otherwise i'm going to keep making mistakes. so please review. I really need them.**_


	4. Chapter 4 - THeir Journey Begins

_**Chapter 4 - Their Journey Begins**_

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Tupyn looked over the moors that lay at the back of her home; the evening light was dancing its way across the sky, illuminating the land in a pinkish hue. The Elven-Dwarf wrapped several slices of raisin bread in clean cloth and placed the parcel aside the others that she had prepared throughout the day, all with different food inside, each with varied ingredients to ensure that they were preserved for different amounts of time. There was salted ham, pies and pastries, any fruit she had in stock, a few cartons full of soups and some more with water.

The food was enough to fill at least half of one saddle bag, leaving enough spaced for her bedroll and the second saddle bag for clean cloth and a spare tunic and other essential pieces she would need for the journey, for herself and Foggy whom she intended to ride on the quest.

She placed everything into the saddlebags and set them by the door. She wrapped her belt around her middle, buckled the small leather strap around her upper right thigh with the small blade that found its home there and finally clipped her quiver and bow over her shoulder and across her torso. The evening light would soon disappear, so she quickly pulled on her leather boots and checked that all of the windows were closed and the inside doors were locked.

She hauled the saddlebags over her shoulder and took one final glance at the house she had called home since she was born. She had cleaned all of the candle wax from the bookshelves and placed all of her belongings in boxes and hidden them in the pantry as it was the only room that wasn't visible through any windows. To any outsiders planning to ransack her house, it would look empty and not worth their time. Her house looked more baron than it had ever been, even after she had a clear out of her brothers' and fathers things when she'd returned from her time away.

Tupyn sighed and took her final step out of the house, locking the door and turning her back on her home.

She walked towards the stable and clicked her tongue. "Sorry boy, time to wake up." She said to Foggy, whose head was lowered and his back hoof resting on the tip showing he was sleeping. She clicked her tongue again and the creature snorted, raising his head to show his wakefulness.

The light outside was dwindling so she lit the candle in the corner and saddled and bridled the grey and black horse before her. "Sorry, Fogs but I made sure that you got all of today to sleep, you're going to need it."

As if her understand the meaning of her words, foggy snorted once more and turned his head around to nip at her hip. "Oi!" she scolded, grabbing the bridle and looking the pony straight in the eyes, showing her unhappiness at his misbehaviour, foggy averted his eyes and lowered his head, taking a step backwards.

She accepted his submissive gesture and calmed her persona, going back to sliding the saddlebags over his rump.

When she was finished, she patted her hip and walked out of the stable, knowing that foggy would follow. As she had trained, he stepped just far enough out that she could close and lock the stable, blowing out the candle as she did so.

Foggy was by far the best trained pony she'd had; She could ride him bareback and he knew many hand gestures, he followed without the lead of the rein and Tupyn had trained many fears out of him though the fear of fire and sudden loud noises and movements was too far bred into him through him being one of the ponies that she had tamed herself. His natural instinct was to flee from danger but Tupyn had trained his to see her as his protection – he would never stray far from her unless she told him otherwise.

She mounted Foggy and urged him into a walk; it was no rare occurrence for her to go on midnight meanderings so any people who noticed her would think no different than they normally would.

She used only the gestures of her calves and heels on the pony's sides to tell him where to go as she had abandoned the reins to buckle her wrist bracers into position. The only sound that was made by her was the gentle clipping of the metal shoes on Foggy's hooves against the cobbles and leather rubbing against leather.

The night had drawn in and Tupyn looked up at the veil of clouds that was seeping over the stars, leaning back on Foggy's rump, knowing that he would follow the road. She would know if he was unsure about something because she would feel it.

Momentarily, she wondered what on earth she was doing. She knew that she was hardly the most decisive of people, she could never be sure of whether or not doing something was the right thing and this quest would likely be the ultimate test of that.

And what was more, the youngest Durin had caught her eye; with his cocky demeanour and near-constant smirk and quite simply the way that he could be sarcastic and ambiguous and _suggestive _with his words one minute and completely calming and reassuring and comforting the next.

Not to mention the fact that he was far from bad looking.

After a moment, she groaned and decided that it would be better to make her way to the meeting under the cover of the trees that were to her right, If anyone was watching her then they'd just think that she was taking a different route to the moors.

She sat up and pushed her right heel into Foggy's side, urging the pony into a quick canter as she grasped the reins so he could easily jump the small ditch that stood between the cobbled road and the trees. She had once had a pony cut its leg up in some stones that were hidden in the mud at the bottom of a ditch and his scarred legs bought his price down in the market as well as giving him a mortal fear of the drainage ditches that could only be cured by blinders on its bridle.

Tupyn dismounted as she neared the same place she had met the entire company several days ago. The sound of her foot treads and the hooves of the pony behind her were silenced by the damp leaves

This meeting was not a celebration like the last one; she could feel it and she had heard it in Thorin's tone when they had spoken a few days earlier. This was the meeting where the prospect of the quest was lingering over everyone's head; there was no going back and there was no telling what they might encounter.

Two voices pulled her out of her thought and her eyes shot up to see a lamp illuminating Dwalin's face a few paces away. She emerged from the woods, gently stepping into the light cast by Dwalin's torch and noticing that the second voice had Balin's as the older Dwarf became visible in the light. "Good evening." She greeted causing the two Dwarves to shoot around to face her, their shoulders tensing and their hands moving to grip their swords out of instinct.

When they realised that it was her, they relaxed, Dwalin went – somewhat begrudgingly – back to loosening the girth tabs on his pony's saddle so that the animal would be comfortable while they were all inside.

"Ach," Balin exclaimed, not noticing that his brother was bothered by something. "Ye scared me lassy." He chuckled. "Ye walk on Elven feet; it's been a fair while since someone's made me jump." He laughed to himself, reminiscing on the past.

"My apologies," Tupyn said sincerely. "I did not intend to."

"Ah, I know ye didn't. Shan't worry about it." He looked to Dwalin. "I'm goin' ta go inside." He said, earning an acknowledging nod from his brother.

As Balin went inside, Tupyn lead Foggy to the wooden bar where the other ponies were tied, she recognised the ponies that she had sold to Fíli and Kíli straight away so tied foggy next to them, knowing that the dark grey horse got on well with the two (Who she'd found out had been christened Cooper by Fíli and Frankie by Kíli) and would not be the cause _or _recipient of any injuries.

She watched as the brown and grey colts looked up at her as she finished tying foggy down. She was tempted to check the condition that they were both in and stroke or show some kind of comforting action but reminded herself quickly that they were no longer in her care and there was no obvious signs of distress from either animal meaning that there was no prompt to intervene; she trusted the Durin brothers anyway.

She tore her eyes away; knowing that eye contact in itself was enough acknowledgement and finished loosening the girth tabs. She looked up to Dwalin who was clearly staring at her and waiting to say something so she turned and walked behind all of the ponies, making sure that she was at a safe distance – painfully remembering a broken rib and sprained ankle she had received when getting on the wrong side of a pony she had been tracking.

She came face to face with Dwalin on the end of the line of ponies and decided to speak first. "Did Thorin leave on time?" she asked, hoping to soothe whatever Dwalin was going to say by at least a tone or two. Dwalin had a wonderful way of making everything he said seem threatening and as if everything you could possibly say was going to be wrong.

"Eye, he asked me to check that you were still up for the quest." He spoke in his thick accent which just seemed to aid his terrifying persona.

She nodded. "I am." She assured but he seemed unconvinced. He crossed his arms over his chest as if to say _'wrong answer'_.

"Listen," he said bluntly. "I knew yer Father. Well, I didn't know 'im as well as Thorin but I would call him a friend. I'm jus' wonderin' if he would want ye to be here. If he were still alive, would he be tryna talk ye out of this decision?"

She frowned. "Well, if my father was still alive he'd likely be taking my place, if not joining me."

"But wouldn' he expect ye to stay? Ye'd have responsibilities here; a house to look after and trade to continue."

"You're forgetting something; if my father were alive, then my brothers would likely be alive too. Then the situation would change entirely, I'd have them to look after instead, I'd have real responsibilities. My responsibilities aren't to look after a house, or to cook or clean as you seemed to infer, my responsibilities would be to family." Over the course of his little – rather intimidating and belittling – speech, Tupyn had grown more and defensive as the words about her father didn't sit well. "If my father were here?" she continued, like she couldn't believe that he had the audacity to actually use her own father against her. "If my father were here I would never have had to travel alone to see my mother and never would have gotten into the trouble that I did, I never would have made the decision not to return home straight away and I likely would have been married off to an appropriate suitor where something like this quest would only happen in my wildest dreams. It's because of my father and brothers deaths that I'm here in the first place."

Dwalin stared her straight in the eyes, and she swallowed hoping that she'd – by the power of a miracle – managed to persuade him. Dwalin sighed. "Alright, let me jus' tell ye this." He had her locked in a, once more, rather intimidating stare-off as her spoke. "Ye are the closest thing that Thorin has to a daughter, the same as Fíli and Kíli are the closest to sons." Tupyn frowned, trying to anticipate what he was going to say. "Being a woman as well as one of the youngest makes ye the most vulnerable of us all, I understand that your skill set is specific and it's hard to find anyone who possesses just one of the skills that come naturally to ye let alone both. I'm jus' sayin' that getting yerself killed isn't gonna be very good for the quest."

He turned and started to walk away, pushing the door open and disappearing inside. Tupyn sighed, looking up for a moment before deciding that going inside was all she could do.

The hall was the same one she had signed the contract in only this time, it was all but silent, the only sound being a few whispering voices. As she stepped inside, she noticed Dwalin step into stance beside his brother. She pulled her gaze away and saw Fíli and Kíli gesture for her to join them by the hearth. She did as they bade and walked over, standing next to Kíli. The warmth from the calming flames soaked into her immediately.

"It would seem," Kíli said quietly into her ear. "That you are balancing precariously between Dwalin's good and bad side." He informed.

Tupyn closed her eyes and bit her lip. She was sure that the conversation had been hushed. "How much did you hear?" she said, chewing on her lip.

Fíli's head poked around his brother. "Oh, we heard enough." He assured.

Tupyn groaned, pushing her head against the stone wall behind her. Kíli decided to pitch in to make her feel even better. "Most of the company did in fact." He informed.

She put her hands up in surrender. "I-" She stuttered. "I don't…" She sighed. "I'm not-"

Kíli smiled reassuringly. "You don't have to explain." He said. "Don't worry, we don't mind."

She looked him in the eyes and gave a small smile of thanks. His eyes were a deep shade of brown and her smile widened before she sighed and looked back down to the floor. Her thoughts were straying, she knew they would. "It's not good that they know, is it?" her tone was hopeful and she wasn't entirely sure if it was because she was hoping to think of something other than the stupid smirk that constantly hung on Kíli's lips or if it was because she really wanted it to actually be a good thing that they'd heard, She hoped that, of all people, the brothers might make her feel better in some way but they simply shook their heads.

Tupyn groaned and leant back against the stone hearth.

Fíli frowned in thought and looked at her. "We've met you before haven't we?"

Tupyn chuckled. "Umm? Yes . . . you bought two ponies from me and saw me at the training ground the next day-"

"No," He groaned. "Long before that, it must have been at least ten years ago."

Tupyn froze but kept eye contact with him, trying to find any way out of it. She could feel the younger brothers' eyes on her as she just started; mind reeling for possible explanations or an excuse to get her out of the silence that surrounded the trio. But she could see in Fíli's eyes that he was certain; the memory was clear in his mind; the image of a young woman knocking on the door to their family home, covered in the black blood of a dark race and asking for their uncle.

She'd hoped that maybe they wouldn't remember; maybe she would have been unrecognisable, maybe they would have just dismissed the memory . . . _she'd tried to._ It was a rotten memory, one of the first that lead her off the beaten path and down one she should have left overgrown.

"Um," Tupyn moved her eyes away and swallowed before looking back up to Fíli. "Yes." She decided that honesty was best. "You have met me before." She paused, trying to find a combination of words where she wouldn't have to further explain. "And it was 12 years ago." She looked down to the floor.

That was enough to spark a full memory in the archers eyes; a memory of giving a young, soaked dwarf a warm blanket, a memory of looking into sad emerald eyes and hoping that maybe a smile might help, a memory of an eavesdropped conversation. He looked up. "It was when your father and brothers died wasn't it." Kíli said, he hoped that by making a statement rather than asking a question, it might make it easier for her to say yes.

And it did.

It was a simple nod but a confirmation nonetheless.

Kíli found himself wanting to comfort her; he hoped that it was a normal feeling for a man to feel when he saw a woman upset by something. He'd been thinking about her since she first walked into the room almost a week before; covered in pony hair and wearing clothes he'd never before seen a woman fell comfortable in. For lack of a better word, she _fascinated_ him. He wasn't going to deny that she was pretty, she had rather Elven looks with high cheekbones and flawless pale skin and her hair was such a dark shade of brown that in some lights it looked black, but it was never loose, each strand was always expertly held in a single braid down her back.

Their conversation came to an abrupt end when three mugs of ale were pushed in front of them with Bofur on the other end. "There you go lads." He said. "Oh! And _lass._" Tupyn smiled her thanks as she took her designated drink. She took a single gulp and Bofur smiled. "Decided to slow down?" He asked.

Tupyn's eyes widened warningly but Bofur had an annoyingly mischievous smirk on his face. She shook her head slightly – hoping that maybe she could disappear before he told the story. She sighed and hid her face in her hands.

"Why would she need to slow down?" Fíli asked.

"Well," Bofur said, in the way that only Bofur could. "Our Tupyn was quite a champion _burper_." Tupyn groaned as she felt both brothers' eyes on either side of her head.

Tupyn sighed and removed her hands from her face. "Let me explain, it wasn't _meant _to be-"

"No," Kíli said. "No, no. Don't explain." He had that horrible smile on his face that made her want to slap him. _"It's fine_."

"No! But it's _not _fine." She attempted again.

Fíli smiled. "Oh, don't be embarrassed." They were playing on her non-stop blushing now. "It's great."

"No," She moaned, hiding her face. "It really isn't."

Bofur looked way too happy with himself as he raised his mug and cheered, a well known signal for everyone to chug their ale. Tupyn looked at him disapprovingly and as all the dwarves around her started to neck their drinks, she took a simply mouthful. But Fíli and Kíli saw that she had no ambition to drink anymore and the younger put his hand under her mug and kept it in its place so she was forced to either chug of get covered in the alcoholic beverage.

She drank it all, with a skill that neither brother knew she possessed, she'd drank the entire thing in less than five glugs; taking the liquid right to the back of her throat and swallowing mouthfuls at a time. She did it so quickly that she beat them and the brothers' eyes widened as they saw what was coming.

Tupyn place her mug on the floor and pushed both brothers' mugs higher into the air to force them to not only drink more ale but drink it quicker as well.

They finished, panting for stolen breaths and the trio looked at each other, knowing what was coming as the room around them was filled with the sounds of burps. They cast one final glance at each other through the corners of their eyes before bracing themselves and each releasing the best burps any three of them had ever done.

The combined result was ferocious and the entire room was filled with hearty laughter at the success of the three young dwarves.

* * *

Balin and Dwalin had already set off. The morning light was seeping through the clouds giving them a red tint, urging Tupyn's already tired eyes to want to close more than they already did.

She left the hall with Bofur, chuckling at the comforting comment he had made about Dwalin to make her feel a little better. As Tupyn came to where Foggy was tied, she thanked him before he needed to slip further down the line to his pony. He stopped as he saw Fíli and Kíli come up behind her. "Yous better look after 'er lads." He warned, pointing at the pair. "I dun want 'er battered and bruised when we all meet again. And for Mahal's sake, please don't get 'er mixed up in one of yer squabbles." The Elven-Dwarf smiled at the caring sense that surrounded Bofur, it was nice.

Fíli laughed. "_Squabbles? Us? _I don't know what you're talking about."

Tupyn decided to cut in at that point before Kíli could second his brother's comment. "Thanks Bofur." She said. "But I'm more than capable of taking care of myself and _male children, _I had brothers, remember?"

Bofur laughed at Fíli and Kíli's expense, he started walking away, bidding farewell as he did so. "Good luck." He said. "Te all of yous."

As soon as he was gone, Fíli looked at Tupyn as she made her way down Foggy's side to tighten the saddle before mounting. "Well that was mean." He said, faux offended.

Tupyn stared back at him over Foggy's shoulder. "And you're not?"

She heard Kíli snort from his own pony's side as her gripped the girth tabs and pulled them tight. Tupyn smiled, doing the same and pulling the stirrups down the stirrup leather. Fíli turned to his pony and chuckled. "This should be fun." He said quietly.

Tupyn mounted, placing a calming hand on Foggy's neck as he took a few steadying steps forwards and backwards at the new weight on his back. "Whoa." She said soothingly. She could feel the jumpiness in his steps, like he knew that this quest was not going to be plain sailing.

"Well," Kíli said, pulling his pony next to Tupyn's. "This is it." Fíli went next to him. "Off we go."

Tupyn smiled as the brothers urged their ponies into a walk but it disappeared as she felt the butterflies in her stomach. She took a shaky breath and looked to the sky hoping that - whatever blend of colours spread across the sky – it would calm her down. But no such comfort came.

All she could think as she stared at the deep red dawn was _'red sky at night, shepherds delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherds warning.'_

* * *

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	5. Chapter 5 - The Wolves

_**Chapter 5 - The Wolves**_

* * *

Around half an hour into their journey, Tupyn had proceeded to lie back and fall asleep while still on Foggy's back. She didn't do very well without sleep and knew that it probably wouldn't be the best start if she bit one of the Durin boys' heads off because they were simply there. She knew that she would likely be woken up in the event of something bad happening by a difference in Foggy's movements beneath her.

She woke up at just before midday, taking happiness in the fact that it was cloudy and therefore there was no blinding midday sunlight. She sat up, testing a crick in her back and stretching out her arms to wake up her body.

"Ah, she has awoken." Fíli said, with a smirk. Tupyn glanced, with tired eyes, to Fíli and then to his brother who had snapped his head around to the information that she was awake. When he didn't make a comment Tupyn simply smiled. "Good morning." She said.

"Good morning." He returned,

"Sorry," she said to both brothers. "I did not intend to sleep as long as I did. Wake me if I do it again and it becomes an inconvenience."

"You wouldn't be." Kíli said.

"We will." The older brother said at the same time, prompting a glare from the archer. Their eyes held for a moment. There was heat in the stares, Tupyn could feel it, and she didn't like the feeling that surrounded them in that moment so she coughed and they broke away, both turning to look at her. "I would like to _not _start our first day travelling with a brotherly feud?" she said, somewhat quietly. "Have you's both not slept?" she asked.

They both shook their heads but it was Kíli who put words together. "No, but you see that ridge?" he pointed to where a collection of rocks peaked from the tree's to their left. She nodded and he continued. "We will get there just before dusk and it's a nice spot to sleep easy, it's in the trees and therefore hidden but if, perchance, something happens, we are at a bit of an advantage due to our placement." Tupyn's eyebrows rose slightly at how the brothers had thought ahead.

"And how did you find out about it?"

Kíli shrugged. "We used to come out here, hunting, with Thorin. He always stopped up there because not many people know about it so if we were staying in the area it was a good place to hide supplies."

Tupyn smiled, chuckling slightly. "He's good at that sort of thing."

Kíli relaxed further into his leather saddle, loosening his grip on the reins to give the pony more room to move his head, he willingly took it and lowered his head slightly. "So, how _do _you know Thorin?" he asked.

Tupyn looked up to him, almost pleading that he hadn't asked that question. That question meant that she needed to bring up her family. "Um," she sighed. "Through my father, he was a sort of . . . I'm not sure if _childhood_ _friend _is the right word. When Erebor was attacked, Thorin got my father out of a sticky situation, I can remember him saying that he'd known Thorin before that but after the incident they stuck together as they wondered around cities and towns, sharing the same skills and taking the same work. When he settled, I eventually came along and Thorin was never a stranger."

Kíli nodded his understanding. "And you came along by an Elf?" he asked. Tupyn just stared. He quickly corrected himself. "I'm sorry, that was rude. I didn't intend-"

"It's fine." She insisted. "It's, um . . . I really don't mind. If the question still stands then the answer is yes, my mother was an Elf, born in Rivendell."

Kíli frowned. "Then how did your father meet her?"

Tupyn cocked her head. She'd expected him to be put off by her Elven roots, at least look at her differently. But there was nothing. Just another question. Tupyn made a slightly confused sound but answered nonetheless.

"Well my mother spent most of her time away from Rivendell and they met on the road."

Kíli nodded his understanding and looked back to the road. Tupyn just cocked an eyebrow. Being Thorin's nephew, she'd expected some of his Elven hatred (for lack of a better term) had been transferred into him. "I'm sorry," she said after a moment. "But shouldn't you be _cursing my name_? Or something?"

Kíli shook his head. "Why should I?" he asked. "I liked you before I knew you were part Elf, I mean," he shrugged. "I had my suspicions but ye can see that you're only part Dwarf and Thorin seems to trust you; he wouldn't have sent you out with us if he didn't." He reasoned.

There was a moment of silence and a slightly confused look etched its way onto Kíli's face. "Why _are _you here though?" he asked. Tupyn looked taken aback by the somewhat attacking tone he'd used. Even Fíli, who was on the opposite side of his brother, looked straight up with a scolding look in his expression. "No, I didn't mean it like that." He quickly corrected himself. "I just mean that most Dwarven women are stored away and kept out of sight until they can get paired off by their family."

"Ah, but you forget," Tupyn answered. "Being half Elf hardly makes me the most desirable woman and I have no family to pair me off with anyone. It's my decision." She shrugged, looking back to the road.

"But," Kíli said, bringing her attention back up to his face where she found a rather confused expression. "Who would you go to for blessing if you wanted to marry?"

Tupyn frowned. She'd never really thought about it. But now . . . "Well," she swallowed. "I-I'd probably . . . go to _Thorin_." She paused. "He's the closest to a parent that I have." Kíli smiled, seeming to sympathise with her on that level.

He went back to looking at the road ahead and Tupyn frowned in slight confusion as she cocked her head slightly. Before that conversation she had just thought that the boys were a little bit like _extra legs_. There had been a part of her that had thought that the majority of the reasons they were even there was because they were bound to Thorin by family and therefore they _had _to follow him wherever he led them.

But from what she could see now, there was a passion in Kíli, in both of them that she hadn't expected to see. There was more than just family bond that caused them to be there, it was pride and promise. They _wanted_ to be there, they _wanted _the glory, they_ wanted _to follow their uncle.

Tupyn took a breath. "Thank you." She said quietly, staring at Foggy's mane to distract her gaze.

"For what?" Kíli asked, confused.

She managed to pull her eyes up and gave a small shrug. "For not judging. For not reacting how I expected you would to my heritage. For not reacting like most people do."

Kíli smiled. "It's fine." He shot a glance to his brother who'd pushed his pony next to Kíli's. "We're not most people." They all chuckled but it soon grew into full laughter as their own howls were fuelled by each others. It was a vicious cycle that when calmed picked up moments later with remembrance at how silly it must have looked.

* * *

"Your hair. . ." Tupyn said as she ran her fingers through Fíli's blond locks. "I want it."

They were sat on the sheltered ledge that they'd planned to stop at; they'd lit a small fire and found that they were quite well hidden by the trees so didn't worry about any possible threats seeing them. Kíli had sat against the wall and started sharpening a small knife with a whetstone while Tupyn decided that she really wanted to braid the elder brothers' hair.

"It's such a nice colour and it falls so well . . . ugh!" She groaned her frustration at how nice his hair was. She'd figured, when she suggested she do it, that if there was any way of bonding with the brothers, then this was it.

Her expert fingers ran smoothly through his hair, never once tugging or accidentally picking up an extra strand or dropping one.

"Careful," Fíli said with a glance to his younger brother. "Kíli'll get jealous."

Kíli looked up from his blade with a frown and scoffed. "I am not jealous of your hair." He chuckled. "And besides," He stroked the blade once more. "Your ego doesn't need a stroke."

Fíli snorted. "I don't have an ego, yours takes up all the room." Tupyn chuckled and finished the small braid at the back, running it out and starting once more.

"How many days are we from Hobbiton?" She asked as Fíli shifted in front of her to get more comfortable.

"About three days. In two days we'll spend the night in a town of men but we'll have to be careful in the meantime, there's wolves that live in these lands." Tupyn's hands faltered. She hated wolves, she could handle two or three but being pack animals it was rare that they were in small numbers.

Kíli looked up and noticed her tense shoulders. "Well let's just try to avoid them." He said. Tupyn glanced to him and smiled her thanks. He returned it and then went back to his blade.

Tupyn took a calming breath and swallowed. "Is that why we're going to stay in the town of men? To avoid wolves?"

Fíli chuckled. "No. Well, probably not." He looked up to the clear night sky above and Tupyn frowned. "Probably?"

"Hmm," Fíli dragged out the sound. "Thorin left us a message, saying we _needed_ to stay there. It could be that he doesn't want to risk us staying out but it might not be as well."

"Well what else might it be?"

Fíli just shrugged. "You know Thorin," He said. "Could be anything."

* * *

Tupyn didn't often have nightmares; not anymore anyway, but when she did have them, they were ferocious. They attacked every aspect of her being; they made her soul scream in pain, her mind stutter on basic thought processes and her muscles ache from constant and repetitive tense from a strain that was no longer there.

The dream on this particular night was one of the worst she'd had in years; it left her scratching her flesh to rid herself of black blood that had been washed off decades before, tearing at her hair as is the new pain might expel the festering one from her body. But she didn't scratch and she didn't tear because a gently voice and a soothing hand woke her before she could get there.

"Tupyn?" The voice was followed by a soft shake of her shoulder. "Hey, Tup! Wake up!"

She pulled her eyes open quickly to see the sunrise spreading its bright colours across the horizon and deep brown eyes staring at her. She realised that her chest was heaving with panicked breaths and she quickly looked round for a threat that was long gone.

Kíli's hand gently touched the back of hers, as if to pull her attention back to him. "Tupyn are you alright?"

She heaved one final breath and took a last glance around. When she found only a sleeping Fíli and their bags she swallowed and nodded. "Yeah, fine." She shrugged nonchalantly and attempted to ignore the small circles his thumb was running on the back of her hand. "Just a nightmare, everyone gets them."

He squinted sceptically before nodding. "Okay." She smiled and sighed, sitting up all the way and leaning her body against the wall where he joined her.

She reached into her bag and pulled out the slices of raisin bread in the clean cloth. "Have you been awake long?" She asked.

He chuckled. "No actually. About five seconds before I woke you."

She frowned. "How'd you figure that out?"

He laughed and leant his elbow s on his pulled up knees. "Because you kicked me." He lifted his head back up to look to the rising sun before looking straight to her.

She choked on nothing but air. "I what?"

He nodded. "Yeah, you kicked me in the shin."

She cursed in Khuzdul and apologized but Kíli just smirked. "Well I thought women were supposed to be civilised."

She rolled her eyes. "Shut up, I'm not like most women." She unwrapped the raisin bread and handed it to him. "Want a piece?"

He observed it for a moment to try and figure out what it was and then shrugged as he plucked up the top piece. "Sure, why not? Thanks."

She cocked an eyebrow as he devoured it before she'd finished chewing her first bite.

"You were hungry then?"

He looked at her like the answer was obvious. "Technically," He chewed what was still in his mouth and swallowed it. "I'm still growing. I need the nutrients."

Fíli suddenly started to stir. "The only thing," He said, still half-asleep. "That you need . . ." He rolled over to look at them as he lifted his head slightly. "Is a bloody brain."

"Ha ha." Kíli said sarcastically as Tupyn laughed at Fíli's sudden replied. "You're both _hilarious_." Fíli looked to Tupyn and they started sniggering. "Seriously," The younger continued. "I'm in stitches."

Tupyn smiled and rested her head gently on Kíli's shoulder. "Aww," She said. "I'm sure he's only joking."

Fíli pulled his hand up and demonstrated using his thumb and the tip of his forefinger just how much her was joking and pulled a face that seemed to say _'only a little bit'_.

Tupyn just smiled as she kept her temple resting on his shoulder and his hand found hers once more, rubbing the same circles over her veins and tendons and soothing her. Their hands were hidden from the older brother by Tupyn's crossed legs.

It was a small gesture but the first hint of a confirmation she'd had nonetheless; it was a hint of his interest in her and the first sign she'd had that her thoughts weren't just straying for no purpose.

She smiled up to Kíli and he looked down to her, that ridiculous smirk on his face again. She sighed and simply relaxed against him.

A few minutes later, Kíli decided her was bored and slipped his hand away from Tupyn's and stood up. "C'mon Fí." The younger one said.

The blonde turned his head and pulled the fully woke up. "What?" The blond asked.

"Practice with me." He pulled out his sword and the older brother sighed reluctantly.

"Kí." He moaned and opened his mouth to protest but the younger interrupted him.

"You know you want to."

The brother looked back to his lap, chewing his lip before sighing. "Yeah, you're right. I do." He stood quickly and leant back to grab his sword.

All three of them climbed down from the ledge and the brothers took up their stance as Tupyn scaled the oak tree to the left, taking her weapons with her. The air was filled with the sound of clashing swords and Tupyn looked around to find the ponies. She found them hidden in the trees several metres away. She smiled and started to watch the brothers.

They'd been fighting for several minutes before the comments started. "C'mon Kíli!" The elder brother tormented as Kíli's sword clashed with his own once more. "I'm not sure you're even trying."

Tupyn watched the brothers from the lower branches of the tree that she'd managed to scale and leant against the trunk with her legs crossed over the branch and a mint leaf in her mouth.

"Of course not," The brunet said cockily as he swung from the left. "If I was trying you'd be dead by now." Tupyn smiled at his reply and watched how Fíli blocked the attack, taking mental notes and searing their exact movements into her mind.

After a while, Tupyn shifted to pick up her bow. It was one of her most cherished possessions, it was custom made and fashioned from a darkly stained yew wood. It had been made by her father when she had stopped growing and he deemed her worthy of a professionally crafted bow rather than a simple training one. It was the last thing he'd given her before he'd died no more than six months later. Tupyn looked after the bow like no other item she owned.

She pulled out an arrow and ran her fingers over the blended fletching feathers before she knocked the fork onto the string.

She pulled back and felt the tension peak as she aimed for the beach tree ten meters away. She remembered Kíli's instructions from several days earlier and relaxed her bow arm, taking a deep breath before releasing the string and watching the arrow fly.

The brothers stopped fighting each other and turned back to back when they heard the familiar sound of the arrow slicing the air and connecting with a tree with a loud thunk.

Tupyn cocked her head slightly at how quickly and the way in which they had moved; it was so instinctive and both brothers had done it without a second thought. Despite how much it was unpractised in battle, they had each others backs no matter what.

The two pairs of eyes mat hers and Fíli slumped in relief and slipped his sword into the sheath on his hip. Kíli did the same except rather than sheathing his sword; he pointed it towards her in the tree. "Get down here, it's your turn."

He winked and she rolled her eyes as she slipped from the branches of the tree and landed in a crouch.

She stood straight and unclipped her quiver at the base before pulling the strap away from her torso and placing it down with her bow. She slipped her coat form around her shoulders like he had and was left in just the emerald tunic and black bodice. Kíli chewed his lip slightly as his eyes roamed her body. She smirked and he blinked and bought his eyes back up to hers. She cocked an eyebrow and he simply swallowed and straightened himself up.

"Are you two ready?" Fíli asked, perching himself on a tree stump

Tupyn coughed slightly and pulled out her sword. It was an odd weapon really; on one side it was curved and elf-like while on the other side it jutted out nearer the top like most dwarf weapons with two blood groves down the centre to make it lighter.

"Ready?" He asked again as they both as they took up their stances. "Go."

Tupyn preferred the Elven style of fighting (it was one of the few things that she actually did prefer) so when Kíli charged she simply spun and blocked his attack. Her movements were light and it was only the momentum of her steps that stopped Kíli's strength from overpowering her.

When the brothers fought it was like a dance as they worked off of each other, they didn't _fight _they simply learned the others workings.

When Kíli fought Tupyn, it was a test. Just as she had watched them, the brothers were now watching her; assessing her movements and watching how she worked. She wasn't sure if she was privileged or put off; on one hand she was flattered that they wanted to envelop her in the fold but on the other hand she was distracted massively by their eyes constantly on her.

She slipped his hand to the left but his sword stayed in his hand and he bought it back across his body to block her attack.

She managed to recover and block as he went overhead.

"She favours the left, Kí." Fíli said. "And prefers to defend."

"You think I don't know that?" he panted a reply. Tupyn pushed him back and cocked an eyebrow to the blond.

"Are you two ganging up on me now?"

Kíli swung around from the right and her eyes widened as she jumped back and managed to defend herself. "You'd better get used to it." The elder said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Tupyn flicked her wrist around and the movement forced Kíli's sword from his grip. The blade landed a few feet away and Tupyn relaxed as Kíli looked from his hand to the sword to Tupyn with an astounded look on his face.

Tupyn – rather smugly – slipped her sword back into its sheath and Kíli took a small step back.

"Kíli." Fíli said. "_Kíli no_."

Tupyn frowned between the brothers. "Wh-?" She didn't get a chance to even finish the word before Kíli charged at her and his body collided with hers, taking her to the floor and knocking the air out of her.

She groaned with a smile as he straddled her waist and his hands went to her side, tickling her. She wriggled in vain and cried out.

Fíli groaned and simply held his head in his hands.

But no sooner had she done that when there was a chillingly familiar sound and all three of them tensed as the vicious howl filled the air.

Wolves.

* * *

_**Hello, faithful people who actually like this thing I've been attempting to churn out for almost a year. I decided that I couldn't leave you hanging on that last chapter . . . so I'm going to let you hang on this one. Right, wolves. How do you all feel about that one? **_

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_**I wanted to say thanks to ro781727, Princess of Ered Luin and cHeMiCaL77 for listening and actually reviewing. Unless you didn't get the memo, I'm on Tumblr under 'starkobsessed247', if you don't want to review, please send me an ask on there or even a PM on here. I'm dying for reviews, they're honestly what I need to carry on.**_

_**Thanks for reading.**_


	6. Chapter 6 - Blinded

_**Chapter 6 - Blinded**_

_**Brief (Possibly unneeded) warning of a possibly graphic animal death (Depends on what your personal definition of 'graphic' is) but what did you expect?**_

_**Disclaimers too! I don't own any character that's mentioned in any of Tolkeins fantastic works. I do, however, own Tupyn Logreig, her past, her present and her future. **_

* * *

Fíli was the first to react. Being the elder brother, he had a protectiveness trained into him; his first and main priority was to make sure that whatever was about to unfurl was organised and there was nothing that could go wrong. "Pick up your weapons." He ordered.

"Couldn't we just run?" Kíli asked, obeying nonetheless as he got off from on top of Tupyn and went to grab his sword from where Tupyn had knocked it to the ground.

"No," Tupyn replied. "They're too close. We'd be run down by them." It was then that she stiffened and Fíli froze. Her eyes were pinned on something slightly to the right and without a second thought she darted forward.

Both brothers called after her but when she disappeared behind some trees the brothers found that they were too distracted by the wolf that had slunk from the shadows and was prowling towards them.

Unbeknownst to them, Tupyn had gone to get the horses away. She knew that Foggy wouldn't go anywhere unless she told him too which meant that if she got in trouble, the pony wouldn't hesitate to run in and get slaughtered by whatever it was that was putting her in harms way. As much as she loved how loyal Foggy was and she couldn't complete the quest without him, she also knew that if he was killed (or ripped apart as would be the case with the wolves) it would sever the last tie she had to relative stability.

She knew her life was messed up and she'd always had a sneaking suspicion that training the ponies was a rather odd way of keeping her comparably sane.

So she all but jumped upon the rope that was keeping the dark pony stuck inside the same 10m round circle. She slipped the knife out of her bracer and quickly slices the twisted fibres close to his bridle. Cooper and Frankie were crying in fear as the first wolf made an appearance, growling low in its throat. She moved quickly to pull her bow from around her torso and loaded an arrow. She heaved a breath and realised that it was Kíli's voice saying _'slowly'_ in her head that made her release the breath and relax her bow arm before firing and staring, stunned as the wolf fell to the ground with the arrow in its eye.

Her breath left her body in a short, shocked sigh before she was pulled back to reality by Foggy's muzzle rubbing her hip and nudging her back into action. She frowned to him. "What are you still doing here?" She asked. "Go!" She didn't wait to see if her obeyed before she leapt over to Fíli's pony and cut him lose before doing the same to Kíli's, not able to stop the small smile that perked her lips when Cooper stuck by his Frankie before they bolted.

She turned to see Foggy still stood there. The sounds of the dwarf brothers fighting the pack had started and she was less that impressed with the ponies suddenly inconvenient loyalty. "Go!" She ordered in a stern tone. She spotted another wolf and held her hand up, puffing her chest and straightening her back. The wolf looked taken aback for a moment and it gave her enough time to grab another arrow, load it and fire. The wolf fell to the ground in pain as the muscles in its front shoulder crippled around the arrow that had struck here. "I'll call you back." She promised Foggy as she gestured for him to follow the other two.

He stared at her for a moment before bowing his head and galloping off after Cooper and Frankie. Tupyn pulled out her blade again and approached the wolf. She hated animals in pain, it was easy enough when they died straight away but the taming skill meant that she had more established relationships with any and all types of creature and even the vicious wolf before her, no matter how horrible his intentions had been, was emanating pain and suffering.

She swallowed and straddled the wolf to keep his still. She gently cradled him below the snout with her palm and placed the blade down when he tried to snap at her. She splayed her hand and it had the same usual effect as it normally did as he relaxed, whimpering as he did so.

She took a calming breath and picked up the blade again. "I'm sorry." She whispered before she slipped the blade across his throat.

_Pain over._

The deep red blood fell in a rapidly growing puddle at her knees through the grass. Her gaze became stuck to the middle distance as she attempted to calm herself. She truly despised the feeling she got after situations similar to this; it left her with an uneasy stomach and a horrible guilt. The longer she spent around an animal, the bigger the relationship grew and in a terrible way it was like killing someone she knew.

When she stood, she felt as though the pain she'd both caused and stopped for the wolf had been transferred into her. She hated that feeling; her shoulder felt like she'd dislocated it and her neck was aching. She groaned and tested a crick by leaning her head to either side. When it relieved no tension whatsoever, she simply sighed and started to run back to where Fíli and Kíli's sounds of effort were coming from.

When she saw them, the remainder of the pack that hadn't been slaughtered by them was closing in.

She skidded to a halt in front of them and held her hand up to the wolves. She could feel the brothers' eyes on her, hands covered in blood and the six remaining creatures stopped in their tracks. She'd never compelled six; in actual fact she'd never compelled more than four. She swallowed and told herself that she could handle it; that she was completely in control and then she turned her full attention to the wolves.

A completely black one to the left snarled violently and attempted the jump forward but she held her other hand out and kept her eyes solely on the female wolf. She whimpered and lowered her head in submission.

Tupyn turned her head to the others and pushed as much energy forward as she could muster. Her muscles were beginning to ache and her head felt as if someone had grabbed her brain and squeezed as hard as they could. She knew that she couldn't hold up any longer to she pushed one final wave of energy and the finally all started to lower their heads.

With almost torturously slow movements, one by one they started to take slow steps backwards until they all turned and ran to the left.

She sighed and attempted to stay stood up but she couldn't and braced herself against her knees, heaving in breaths to get oxygen to her starving muscles.

"Whoa," She heard Fíli mutter behind her and she tried to blink the blurred vision away.

She stood when she felt she was finally able too and ignored the world briefly spinning to turn towards the brothers. She sighed. "Well," She said. "That was easy."

Both brothers scoffed in unison. "Yeah," Kíli said sarcastically. "Looked it."

She smiled and slumped as her muscles started to relax and her brain stopped aching. Kíli noticed when she winced as she stretched her shoulder. "Are you alright?" He asked.

She nodded and pulled her arm across her torso. "Yeah," She replied. "It's just something that happens."

He frowned. "Are you sure."

She smiled reassuringly and nodded. "Just give me five minutes."

Fíli had observed them interacting and chewed his lip as he sheathed his sword. He could see what was happening - he wasn't blind – and he couldn't decide how he felt about it. On one hand it was nice that Kíli was getting along with her and that she was doing the same with him but he was sure that they couldn't have picked a worse time to decide they liked each other; they were mere day from Hobbiton and then they'd embark on a quest to retake their homeland, nobody needed a distraction.

But what could he do?

* * *

The brothers had heard stories of Trackers. They'd heard tales of how a Tracker could follow a Mink from its burrow to the bushes where it collects food and subsequently find Wild Boar as they feed from the same nuts, seeds and leaves. But no matter how many stories they heard (and despite her performance using the taming skill on the wolves the day before), they would never have guessed that observing a Tracker at work was far more impressive.

It took Tupyn no more than five minutes to find a small piece of snagged deer fur on a thorn bush and they watched as she kept her gaze 10 or so feet in front of her so as not to slow herself down and to give herself time enough to scan and spot everything she was following.

It was only a small amount of time before they saw a beautiful doe, standing sturdy on her hind legs to reach the leaves on a small spruce tree. Kíli expected Tupyn to reach for her bow but she didn't. She turned to him, seemingly knowing that he was confused. "We don't want the doe." She explained. "It's breeding season and the deer around here are scarce without killing more of them." She explained. "This breed of deer eats the same food as the wild rabbits around here; there's always _plenty_ of them. We simply wait."

Kíli readied his bow as Tupyn did.

They had woken up early that morning, and knew that they could pile up some supplies and still be on time so they hid their bags and tethered their ponies before setting off.

A rabbit shot across the scene but didn't stop so neither of the archers fired at it. Kíli wasn't stupid, Tupyn hadn't told him not to fire but he'd been on plenty of hunting trips and knew that more rabbits would follow.

They waited for another moment and a pair of rabbits shot across the scene, shortly followed by a third. Both archers managed to strike one of the pair and Kíli was quick enough to hit the third with another arrow. The doe, in fear for also being a victim bolted away. Tupyn stared at Kíli, eyebrows raised in shock. "Whoa." She said under her breath. "That was impressive." For years she'd tried to train herself to do what Kíli had just done with no success. She could aim and fire; it was the loading that let her down because she kept slipping.

Kíli smiled proudly. "I'll teach you some time." He said.

"I'll hold that against you, you know?"

Kíli gave her a cocky smile and she returned it. Kíli noticed her eye colour as he held them; they were a deep, emerald green mostly but the inner rim was a vibrant shade of sea blue. He noticed how they contrasted against her pale, porcelain skin along with her dark brown, almost black hair that she'd braided into a new plait that morning. He wondered why she constantly plaited it, he knew that it was a _Dwarven thing_ to braid and plait but she didn't have a single strand out of her tight weave. It was like she-

A cough from Fíli bought both of the younger dwarves' out of their trances. Suddenly realising that she had been locked in his brother's gaze, Tupyn didn't meet Fíli's eyes for fear of flushing red. Instead, she looked back to the rabbits, not focusing on anything in particular, simply trying to _look_ like she was as an excuse not to catch the elder brothers' gaze.

After – what she assumed was – a silent conversation between the two brothers behind her back, Fíli passed her to pluck up the rabbit she had shot. The younger dwarves followed and each grabbed a rabbit, pulling the arrow from its chest and handing it to Kíli, Tupyn quickly broke their momentary eye contact.

She looked to Fíli who was holding her arrow out to her, the green and blue fletching feathers showing it was hers. She was forced to make eye contact. She grabbed the arrow but he didn't let go and their gazes stayed stuck, it wasn't like with Kíli, it was a warning glance. It said 'I know what's going on', 'are you really going to take that risk?' and 'don't hurt him' all at the same time.

She swallowed and broke the gaze, causing him to release the arrow. She placed it back in her quiver. "Kíli," the elder brother said and the younger looked to him taking out cord to tie the rabbit's hind legs. "Tupyn and I will do that. You should go and set up the ponies."

Kíli glanced to Tupyn, nodding to his brother and handing the rabbit and cord to him before turning and making his way back. Fíli bought out his knife and cut off a length of cord to hand to the Elven Dwarf. Nerves had risen in Tupyn's blood; she really didn't want to have the conversation that she knew would ensue.

"Listen," Fíli said. "Kíli's young. You're young. I understand that, but this quest is dangerous enough without you two courting each other and adding more danger." She looked down to the rabbit in her hand, stroking its fur with her thumb. "I shan't say anything to my brother because he likely won't listen and I'll just be putting ideas in his head. I don't mind being friends, friends are fine but anything more could get complicated. Do you understand what I am trying to say?"

She nodded, still avoiding eye contact. "Yes, I have to try and stop this before it gets any further, nobody needs a distraction on a journey like this. I understand." With that she stalked back in the direction Kíli had gone. She didn't say what she wanted to; she didn't say that maybe just glory, gold and the love of a brother and uncle weren't enough to fight for. She didn't say that she could see the childishness in Kíli and that with childishness came rash decisions and irresponsibility. She didn't say that maybe giving Kíli something else to fight for would be a good thing.

She stopped walking. She wished Fíli hadn't had that conversation with her because now she had to try and subtly push Kíli away while not ruining her relationship with Fíli anymore than it just had by him practically scolding her for having an interest in his brother.

She leant against the nearest tree to her and sighed, finally wrapping the cord around the rabbit's hind legs. She raised her fingers to her lips and whistled, knowing that Foggy would hear it and come to her. She waited for a moment before whistling again, just in case the pony couldn't pin point where she was in the woods.

She looked around the woods, in the area that she was in most of the trees were evergreens and they made a thick barrier that caught the sun and prevented it from reaching the ground. There were, however, a few gaps where glorious sunlight came down in streams and in a section to her left, no evergreens had been able to grow giving enough sunlight for flowers and grass to grow.

There was a sudden sound of hooves and she looked to her right to see Foggy coming towards her at a slow gallop. She clapped her hands, ready to grab the saddle and haul herself up while the pony carried on at the pace it was at. She managed to grip the leather and use the momentum of being pulled by Foggy to kick her leg up and over. She slipped her feet into the stirrups and grabbed the reins, pulling them hard and getting the pony to stop on his haunches and twist until they were heading back to where they had spent the night.

She pushed Foggy into as fast a gallop as he would go while not injuring himself and still being able to dodge trees. When they made it back to the rock, she saw a very relieved looking Kíli who was clipping his bedroll onto the saddlebags of his pony. "Thank Aule." He muttered to himself as he saw her coming towards him. "I thought he'd just run off." He said, gesturing to the black pony. "I didn't think you'd be very happy with me letting your pony loose."

Tupyn chuckled. "No, don't worry. I called him, that's all." She dismounted and handed the tied rabbit to the back of her saddle. "Is Fíli not back?" she asked.

"No, not yet. I expect he'll only be a minute." He replied, going back to organising his pony. Fíli's was already sorted and was happily munching on some grass.

"How is he?" Tupyn asked.

"Who?"

"The pony." She nodded to the creature whose saddle Kíli was tightening.

"Oh! Oh, yes." He nodded his understanding. "I have no idea why you couldn't sell him. You've trained him remarkably well."

Tupyn smiled proudly. "Thank you." She said.

Kíli smiled back and then un-tucked a piece of the ponies mane from its bridle. Tupyn sighed and moved to the saddlebags, pulling out a water carton and taking a few big gulps.

"There's an inn not far from here called 'The Widows Child'," Kíli said as Tupyn twisted the lid back onto the canister. "We plan to stay there tonight . . . if we can make it there."

"How do you know they'll have rooms?"

He leant against the sturdy pony. "We know the landlord through Thorin. He'll manage to find a room for us."

Tupyn chuckled. "It would seem that your name brings you more than just respect." She said, her emerald eyes flicking up to meet his chocolate ones. He smiled.

"Oh, yes! I can get the _best _rooms in the _best_ Inns within 20 miles." Sarcasm was evident in his voice as he smirked at her.

She arched an eyebrow. "Is that the height of where your name gets you?" she asked chuckling.

Kíli's expression dropped and he looked down, showing that he didn't even want to contemplate an answer to that question. But he did answer, not thinking that the Elven-Dwarf could have ever heard his utterance. "May as well be."

Tupyn's head shot up in confusion, preparing to ask what he meant. Instead, she looked back down to check the girth on Foggy's saddle. When she heard footsteps to her right, she still refused to look up, pulling on the tabs of the buckles on the saddlebags to make sure they were done up. She'd judged the tread and the stride length and knew it was Fíli so saw no reason to look up to him.

He did, however, glance up to Kíli who merely stroked his hand down his pony's neck. She had no doubt that he knew exactly what his brothers pace sounded like so saw no need to look up either.

Tupyn sighed, realising that she was in a bit of a sticky situation regarding both of the men and kicked herself internally before pulling herself up onto the saddle. Foggy grunted beneath her and she heard the sound of leather on leather and looked to see the younger brother move into his own saddle.

He looked over to her, hiding the sadness in his eyes - at whatever she had reminded him of - remarkably well.

Fíli mounted after them, casting glances at the both as he shifted in the saddle. They all just stood for a moment, looking at each other, waiting for someone to make a move of authority.

It was Fíli who took the step. "Are we going to move?" he asked and without another uttered word, they pushed their ponies into a walk,

They emerged from the forest, wide open fields lying before them. To the south were miles and miles of swaying grass, blots of colour dappled around in the form of various flowers. The sky was blue, the sun pouring its rays over them. But as she looked to the east, the sky darkened slightly, threatening a storm as the natural lands gave way to ploughed lands of dull yellow wheat and grain and beyond was a built up, grey stone town, the darkness of the sky making the blandness of the town look even more grimy.

Tupyn felt unease stir in her stomach. She didn't like the cities of men, her years travelling around various places had given her a very individual outlook on different subjects. She never stayed anywhere long enough to make enemies – though she did get into a little trouble in one city of men – but she did develop an understanding of what people not to trust.

They would make it just before sun down and she didn't care how well the brothers knew the landlord, she wasn't looking forward to spending the night in The Widow's Child.

* * *

_**So Fíli got involved... I don't like writing Fíli like that, it makes me feel like I'm writing his wrong because I'm not used to it. ANYWAY! What did you think? Please review, favourite and follow. And follow me on Tumblr if you can! **_


	7. Chapter 7 - The Light

_**Chapter 7 - The Light**_

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The landlord of The Widows Child was a burly man, tall and built like a boxer. His name was Smith, a strong name for a strong man. Tupyn soon forgot his first name, not caring enough to remember it. He recognised the brothers as soon as they said their relation to Thorin. Tupyn let them engage in pleasantries while she scanned the room. It was dark, the lamps being the only source of light and the pong of mould and mead clinging to the air like a scared child. Men stared, if they were sober enough to care, they wondered what three dwarves were doing in the town of men, what business they could possibly have.

"And who's this lovely lass?" Smith asked, gesturing to Tupyn and bringing her out of her observances. The brothers looked to her and she faced him straight on, dipping her head gracefully in a feminine manner.

"Tupyn Logreig, it's a pleasure to meet you." She said with a faux smile on her face as she straightened up. The man's eyes scanned her up and down, seeming to judge her. She knew it had been a mistake to come here, she knew that a young woman travelling with two men, even if they were all of the same kind was almost unheard of if they weren't her escorts and it was clear by the way she held herself and the way she looked and spoke for herself that they weren't.

He nodded, seemingly to ensure himself that whatever she was doing with the brothers was completely normal. "I'll take you to your room; I'd love to have your custom at my bar if you can spare a few coins." He said to Fíli, he knew that it would be the elder brothers' choice if they were to drink.

Fíli smiled. "We'll bare that in mind." He said, gesturing for Smith to lead the way.

He did so, leaving the dwarves to pick up their bags and follow. To get to the room, they needed to head towards the back of the pub; Tupyn followed the eyes of the men that had noticed them and made the subconscious decision not to go to sleep tonight, deciding that it'd be better to miss sleep than get ambushed in the middle of the night.

Kíli let her go before him as they were lead up the unsteady stairs at the back of the room, she smiled her thanks before trotting behind Fíli. They were lead to a room at the back that over looked the poorly built houses behind the pub. It had four beds so the bags were dumped on the spare bed. "I hope it's decent." He said. "If you need anything, just give me a shout."

"Thank you, Drayin." _So that was his name. _Fíli bowed his head and glancing at Kíli who had pulled back a drape to look as up and down the street as he possibly could. He also took a brief look at Tupyn who had taken up a spot against the far wall, to stare into the middle distance (rather threateningly actually).

Drayin nodded, making eye contact with all three of them. "Remember what I said about coming for a drink."

Fíli smiled. "We'll try."

Drayin closed the door and the three travellers listened to his footsteps retreating. Tupyn jumped as the brothers suddenly started moving. They moved in sync, like when she'd seen them train. They threw things to each other; bags, packages of food and even weapons that were caught – miraculously – by the hilts. Kíli caught a package of food and threw it to Tupyn who only just managed to catch the surprise throw. Kíli chuckled as he gripped a knife and moved to the rug in the centre of the room.

Fíli did the same, spinning his own blade and bracing it in a crack between two floorboards, his brother mirroring his movements on the opposite side.

"What are you doing?" Tupyn asked them, they simply smirked to each other before leaning down on their blades. A sickeningly loud crack filled the room as the floorboard was bought up.

Tupyn blew a breath through her lips and she simply decided to stand back against the wall once more as the brothers bought up four more adjoining boards. Kíli plunged his hand in and bought out a small chest, handing it to his brother before going in again and emerging with a pouch the size of his palm.

Tupyn watched as Fíli pushed in two sections and twisted them both around in a circle. A clunk could be heard and he smiled before lifting up the intricately decorated box. Inside were coins...Lots of coins and atop them was a note.

Fíli opened it, frowning. "It's from Thorin." He said.

"What?" Kíli said, scandalised. "How did he know it was there?"

Fíli shrugged. "Well, you know Thorin."

"What does it say?" Tupyn asked.

Fíli took a breath. _"Boys,"_ He read out, sitting back as he did so. _"As you can see, I do in fact know about your little hiding place, please don't be too surprised. I expect that since you're reading this, you're about 2 day's journey from the shire and you've also had the initiative to take advantage of a shelter when it shows itself. Now, I know your plan, please refrain from drinking too much, I won't accept nephews and heirs recovering from a night of heavy drinking when you reach Hobbiton. I've placed the chest beneath the floorboards and I expect it to stay there._

_"Each of you (Including Tupyn) should take five coins each as I have no doubt that the amount of coins you have will be nowhere near enough to get you through the town of men. Tomorrow morning I expect you up bright and early to meet the blacksmith, pay to get your weapons sharpened and if needs be you should re-shoe your ponies and have anything else that is metal - and broken - repaired. I hope to see you all in the shire tomorrow." _Fíli chuckled as he read ahead. _"P.S. Please refrain from scaring away Tupyn." _They all smiled, refreshed by the letter from Thorin.

Kíli's smile lingered as he unbuttoned the pouch and pulled out a note that was inside that, he glanced up at Tupyn with an almost confused look before looking down to it. He peered inside and frowned before placing the note back inside and standing. "Catch." He said, throwing it gently to her.

She cocked an eyebrow as it landed in her palm with a small clink of metal against metal. The pouch was worn leather with a scolded, elaborate 'CL' burned into the flap. Tupyn froze. Memories flooded back, a chill of happiness and reminiscence flooded through her. They were the initials of her mother. _How did Thorin get the pouch? Why was he only giving it her now?_

She slowly unbuttoned it, torn between ripping the leather open to get inside or to leave it all together, not wanting to know at all. She gently placed her fingers inside and momentarily flinched away from the cold metal before gently gripping the thin chain and pulling it out.

She held it to the lamplight and looked at the gem on the end. It was beautiful, catching the light and casting various shades of red and blue into Tupyn's face and neck. She didn't notice that even the brothers had noticed and had been entranced by it. The gem was shaped and smoothed, held in a simple but elaborate steel border. It was shaped gently in the pattern of leaves and vines and supported the gem magnificently.

"What is it?" Fíli asked, still staring.

Tupyn didn't move her gaze away from the necklace. "Dragons breath." she practically whispered, only then changing her eyes onto the other item hanging from the chain. There she found a thin band with a simple diamond encrusted into it. She knew, what with it being in her mother's pouch that the necklace was her beloved, irreplaceable birth necklace and the ring was her engagement ring from Tupyn's father.

She clenched her fist around it protectively and pulled out the note. It was, yet again, from Thorin. _'Dear Tupyn, I shan't mess around with silly snippets of information. I know that you've likely figured out that the contents of this were your mothers. Next time you see me, ask me how I came about it and I will tell you the tale. For now, just know that I know what your mother told you when she left and it's vitally important that you do not tell anyone else. Also, when we next meet, remind me of a letter that I currently have in my possession; I feel you would very much like to read it. Your mother would be very proud of your decisions, you're clearly your mother's daughter and despite what you seem to think, that is not a bad thing. Please look after my nephews. Thorin.'_

She felt her throat close up at the new information as water began to collect in the corners of her eyes. She blinked them away and swallowed, hoping that the brothers were too distracted to the lights it cast to notice. She looked up, eyes moving to Kíli and she knew he'd seen. She smiled, clearly forcing it. She gripped the clasp of the necklace and flicked her hair out of the way. "Here," The archer said. "Let me." He stood and moved behind her. She let him take the chain and used her hand to ensure her hair didn't get caught. His hand brushed her neck and she let out an inaudible sigh as he clipped the clasp shut before tucking the gem into her clothes.

Tupyn sighed and looked up to him. "Thank you." He smiled and clapped his hand together. "Drinks?" he asked. Tupyn frowned at the words and opened her mouth to question how they were going to get drinks with barely enough money for what Thorin had told them they were to do but she was cut off by Kíli taking off the think leather jacket that he had over his clothes. She cocked an eyebrow as she wondered what the hell he was doing as he stripped down into his underclothes.

"Just one each?" he asked, Fíli nodded without hesitation and Tupyn chuckled in confusion before giving a look of 'sure, why not?'

Kíli nodded before moving his feet into the hole in the floorboards and manoeuvred himself beneath it. "Don't get stuck." The eldest brother said before the younger disappeared to the right as he shuffled away, a chuckle following him.

Tupyn sighed and sat back against the wall, legs crossed at the ankles. Her mind was still running the words of the letter that Thorin had given her with the necklace and ring. She wanted to know what he knew that she didn't, she was practically buzzing with a strange combination of anxiousness and impatience. She'd always thought she knew everything that her mother had to say to her, she didn't know what she could possibly leave in a letter.

A few moments later she noticed that Fíli's expression had suddenly become concerned. Tupyn frowned, pulling her head from the wall. "What's wrong?"

"He doesn't normally take this long." He said quietly, leaning forward and turning his head towards the gap in the floorboards.

"But he knows what he's doing, doesn't he? He's done it before."

Fíli's eyes moved up to her. "Yes, of course he knows what he's doing, but it's been years." He swallowed. "If he gets caught, we'll be arrested. Thorin will _not _be happy with that."

She hesitated before saying the words that had popped into her head. "What-" she swallowed. "What if he's stuck?"

Fíli gave her a serious look and then seemed to decide not to think about it as he looked back down into the gap.

A few more moments passed before Fíli sighed and started to take off his coat. "I'm going after him." He said determinedly.

No more had Tupyn opened her mouth to give a weak protest did they hear a scrape along the wood. They looked down into the hole to see a mug of ale resting in the light soon followed by two more scrapes and two more ales skidding to a halt in the light.

The pair pulled them out and Tupyn ducked her head beneath the floorboards. "How far is he?" Fíli asked.

She squinted into the darkness but couldn't see Kíli. "Um . . . I can't – Oh wait!" she popped back up. "About three meters to the right."

Fíli sighed. "Right." He bashed twice on the floor above where Kíli should be before moving back to the gap and swinging his arm into the cavity. Tupyn heard the sound of two hands gripping wrists and Fíli used the momentum of his swing to pull Kíli towards the gap.

He came into the light smiling like he was way too proud of himself, eyes going straight to Tupyn as she relaxed. "What the hell happened?!" she exclaimed as he pulled himself out of the hole, shaking cobwebs from his body.

"Why?" He asked, the leftover smugness making him cocky. "Were you w_orried_?"

There was no hesitation in her reply. "Of course I was worried." He looked almost shocked by her blunt reply. "How could I not be?"

If there was any honest inquiry behind his question then Tupyn was definitely in doubt. She was not going to go against the obvious and say that she didn't have feelings for the younger dwarf but if he was actually asking her the question of 'were you worried?' then she was going to doubt what he felt himself. If he felt the same then it would be obvious that she would be worried, _wouldn't it?_ If he felt the same then he wouldn't even need to ask the question because he'd know.

Silence ensued as Kíli and Tupyn just watched each other and Fíli watched their silent exchange.

After a while, Fíli couldn't watch anymore so gave a curt cough and clapped his hands. "Well," he said. Both Kíli and Tupyn jumped and looked away from each other. "What actually happened? Why did you take so long?" He asked his brother with an inquiring look. "Did you get lost?"

Kíli scoffed. "As if I got _lost._" He replied, chuckling. "I got stuck."

Fíli seemed unfazed by this. "Told you you'd put on weight." He simply said, moving to sit on his bed with a mug of ale. "I am not fat." The younger brother defended himself.

"I never said that." The blond said. "I just said you were fatt_er_."

Tupyn decided to intervene. "Boys! You're dwarves. You're meant to be stocky, remember?" The boys both looked to her like they couldn't believe she'd 1) had the audacity to say that and 2) stopped their potentially fun argument. "You," She pointed to Kíli. "How did you get stuck?"

Kíli gave a final scowl to his brother (Who muttered something that sounded a lot like 'I thought we didn't have baby sitters anymore.') and looked to the woman next to him. "I snagged a nail." He said, gesturing to his side where his shirt was ripped along with the flesh beneath.

Fíli was concerned now. "Was it rusted?"

Kíli chuckled. "No, I made sure it wasn't when I came back."

Tupyn shook her head. "I'm not letting you take that chance. You're not going to die of tetanus before we even get to Hobbiton."

"So after we get there I can die whenever I want?"

She shrugged. "Preferably, don't die at all. But if you must, you can drop dead the minute we cross the boundary. Just not before then." She looked to Fíli. "Do you have a medical kit?"

The older brother reached into his bag and pulled out a small pouch, throwing it to her. She looked to the younger now and simply said "Off."

He frowned. "I'm sorry?"

She sat on the bed. "Come here and take your shirt off." She started setting out the things from the pouch. Kíli smirked as he did as she bade. She – rather convincingly – acted impassive to the fact that he was topless and just handed him a sewing kit from her own bag.

He stared at the kit in almost disgust. "Pease tell me you know how to sew." She said.

"Of course he does." Fíli exclaimed. "He just doesn't like it."

"It's too tedious!" Kíli half defended himself.

"Well," Said Tupyn. "You'll never catch a girl with that attitude if you feel like _sewing _is tedious." She pulled out a small bottle and a clean cloth from the medical kit and tipped some of the liquid in the bottle onto the fabric. She leant down to observe his wound; it was deep and – though it may not have been hurting him now – it would do when she put the disinfectant on it.

"Who said I needed a good attitude?" He said, cocking an eyebrow suggestively.

She looked up from the gash in his side. "I did." She replied. "Because your beard isn't doing much for you at the minute."

Kíli stared at her as Fíli started to laugh behind him. He rolled his eyes and begrudgingly started to sew.

"This is going to hurt." She warned she knew not to lie to someone about pain; an unprepared person was more likely to lash out that a prepared person.

Kíli's eyes bulged as the cloth touched the gash. "Aule, woman!"

Tupyn merely shrugged. "I did warn you." She tried to ignore the way his muscles flinched in pain. She pulled the – now red stained – cloth away from the cut and folded it before running the folded edge gently across the length of it to clean it out.

Kíli's face screwed in pain as she repeated the action and then dabbed the wet fabric around it to rid it of the final drips of blood.

"Right," She said as she pulled the cloth away for a final time. "You should have it checked in a few days but it think it's clean."

Kíli looked down to her; deep brown colliding with emerald. "Thank you." He said honestly.

"My pleasure." She smiled and he watched as she sighed and sat back against the head board. She ran a hand down her plaited hair and toyed with a few loose strands before pulling out the band at the end of it. She ran her fingers through it and Kíli watched as she shook her head and her hair fell in gentle curls over her shoulders. The almost black shade of brown reflected the lamplight and framed her face magnificently.

Kíli snapped the thread with his teeth and observed his work, smiling at the success of his repair. He slipped the shirt back on and felt Tupyn's eyes on him as he did so. He glanced over to his brother who had unceremoniously passed out on his bed. He smiled mischievously and all but flopped into Tupyn's lap.

She groaned. "It's fine," She said sarcastically. "I didn't need the use of my legs."

Kíli chuckled at her comment and looked up to her. They stared at each other, merely comfortable with the other being there. After a few moments, Tupyn's fingers started running through his hair; running out any cuts and pulling out bits and pieces that had gotten caught in it during his escapade with the ale.

"You know," He said, chewing his lip. "I heard what Dwalin said the other day. Would you really no be here if your father was alive?"

Tupyn looked down at him, her hand faltering slightly in his hair. "Um," She dragged out the sound in an attempt to find the right words. "No," Was eventually what she decided on. "No I wouldn't."

He looked almost like he was hurt by her reply. "Why not?"

She heaved a breath and started to stroke his hair once again. "Well," She began. "If my father was alive, I would really know how to fight so I'd be useless on that front, I wouldn't have any experience in tracking or taming so my skills wouldn't even be a plus. I likely wouldn't be the woman I am now. I wouldn't be of any use."

Kíli stared for a moment before shifting in her lap. "I'm glad you're here." He said, hand lifting gently to cup her face, thumb stroking her cheek gently. "I'm glad you're the woman you are now."

She smiled and moved into his hand, closing her eyes momentarily before moving her lips into his palm and planting a delicate kiss there.

Kíli smiled as she looked back to him; green eyes bright once more and no longer filled with sorrow. He moved his hand away and placed it on her leg. Within moments he was asleep and the last thing he was aware of was her fingers in her hair and the gentle hum of her voice as it flittered over the notes of an ancient tune.

The next morning, when Fíli awoke, he looked to the bed to see his Tupyn with his brothers head in her lap; her fingers were gently in his hair and her other hand was resting gently on his chest, her fingers interlocked with Kíli's as he placed his hand over hers.

Fíli sighed, He could see their relationship developing and he could do nothing about it.

* * *

_**CHAPTER 7! Yay! What did you think?! I know you're out there because I've been watching the views of this fic go up in the hundreds, it's one of the best results I've had so thank you for that. Yet again I'm going to beg for reviews because if you think there's anything wrong and don't say anything then I'm going to keep making the same mistakes. **_

_**Follow me on Tumblr if you can or drop me a PM if you don't want to review publicly, everything is appreciated and I promise I don't bite.**_

_**Thanks for reading. **_


	8. Chapter 8 - Just a Trick

**_Chapter 8 - Just a Trick_**

* * *

Tupyn didn't like the towns of men. In her somewhat substantial experience of being in and around the places they inhabited, she had found that men were greedy and forceful and took what they want, when they wanted it. They were also corrupt and some of them were - quite frankly – evil. All of these factors, combined with many more, lead to Tupyn not bearing any real liking for men at all.

But despite her overall disliking of the race, she found certain members of it were much more likeable. For example, the blacksmith who stood before her and the two Durin brothers, dumbfounded as their three ponies lead _themselves_ into the stalls ready to be re-shoed had a much more agreeable personality about him,

"These ponies," The blacksmith said, watching them in awe. "Where did you get them?"

Tupyn smiled and raised her hand as both brothers pointed towards her. The blacksmith smiled. "and where did _you _get them, missy?"

She chuckled. "No," She said. "They're mine. I trackedthem, I broke them in and I trained them."

"But . . ." he paused and looked at them. "You're a woman."

She nodded and smirked. She'd dealt with situations like this before and knew to simply keep eye contact and not be intimidated. "Well observed."

The blacksmith looked down and apologized. "We aren't used to women being anything other than wives around here."

She bowed her head in acknowledgement of his apology. "I understand." She said. In actual fact, she didn't understand because – although the smith had said _'around here'_, the attitude towards women was similar all around and it annoyed Tupyn to no end; especially when men assumed that she had just accepted the ridiculous situation that the majority of women were forced into and had no complaints. She definitely _did _have a complaint and it sat on the basis that she had _not _accepted the usual situation and yet she was still treated as though she had.

However, she was not going to voice her complaint to the blacksmith because he seemed to have a considerable amount of respect for her if not her entire gender. So she merely decided to appreciate this one mans – rather uncommon - point of view and carry on with her own business.

The blacksmith started checking the ponies' shoes and re-shoeing them.

Fíli, Kíli and Tupyn were leant against the wall with the Elven-Dwarf nearest the open doorway. They'd woken in The Widows Child, eaten their pre-packed breakfast and paid the landlord before then heading over to the small market in the east of the small town and resupplying. The brothers then went to the blacksmith while Tupyn got the ponies.

"So," The blacksmith said as he bent Cooper's front right knee and started removing the shoe. "Where are you headed?" He asked, dropping the shoe on the cobbles.

"North from here." Fíli replied before his brother or Tupyn could come up with a less plausible reply. "To meet with our kin."

"Ah," The smith said as he started to prepare a new shoe.

They stood in silence for a while as the smith finished Cooper and started on Frankie. Tupyn found that her hand kept moving to the newly acquired gem hidden beneath her shirt and fiddling with it. It concerned her, despite how much she quite frankly despised her mother and what she'd done, the necklace and ring had quickly become one of her most cherished possessions.

There was a sudden shout from the other side of the square and Tupyn looked over to see the baker swing a broom at a young puppy. "Go on!" The baker yelled, prodding the head of the broom at the pup. "Get outta 'ere."

The pup yelped and moved over to the centre of the square and sat as the baker slammed the bakery door.

Tupyn watched and felt Kíli at her side, doing the same. Tupyn gave two short whistles and the pups ear perked but he didn't turn.

"I wouldn't bother, miss." The blacksmith said causing both her and Kíli to look over. "He's been hangin' round for weeks now. He's a stray, won't come to anyone." He shook his head and went back to his work.

Tupyn looked to Kíli and shot him a look that seemed to say '_I'll take that as a challenge.'_

She stepped out and the pup turned its head in fear at the sound of her footsteps. She held her hands up and decided that the point she'd stopped at was close enough. "Shh," She said soothingly as she crouched down. "It's alright."

He was a thin creature; he'd probably be dead in the next month. His black fur was covered in mud and grime and parts of his muzzle had stopped growing fur where scars made their mark.

She sighed and pulled a small biscuit from her pocket and held it out. "C'mon." She urged. "I won't hurt you."

She could feel the connection building as he looked cautiously over to her with deep brown eyes. She gave a low whistle so as not to scare the pup any further and he slowly stood and started to slink over to her. She smiled reassuringly as he stretched his muzzle forward to sniff her hand.

He slowly bit the biscuit and she shifted her hand to hold it flat to he could get to it better. He seemed almost confused as to why he trusted her but that wasn't rare to see with the animals that Tupyn came into contact with.

When he finished the biscuit, he nudged her hand for more but she simply moved to pick him up. He cowered for a moment with his tail between his legs and his back arched; probably not even knowing what this show of affection was.

She held his chest in her hand and pulled him close, pulling him inside her coat to shelter him from the rain. He seemed through some tiny instinct to know not to bite the hand that fed him and just moved into her body.

She moved into the blacksmiths and to find the smith just staring at her in shock and Fíli and Kíli just smiling at her as she moved back into place between the brothers.

"H-How did you do that?" The smith stuttered.

Tupyn smiled. "Just something I've picked up."

She smiled as the pup turned from a hostile, cautious animal to something not dissimilar from what you assume a puppy to act like. He licked Kíli's hand and moved his head into it. Kíli chuckled and scratched his head. The only thing that Tupyn noticed was that he jumped and bristled at the sound of the apprentice sharpening the weapons. The pup would perk his one floppy ear, look around frantically and then hide his head inside Tupyn's coat.

She frowned and noticed the blacksmith glancing up at the pup before pulling his eyes away and finishing Foggy's shoes.

The blacksmiths apprentice came over and announced that he was finished with the weapons so the brothers moved over to the table where the blades were set out while Tupyn stayed where she was.

She gave the pup one final scratch beneath his chin and walked over to the smith who placed his hammer down and rubbed his hands on a dirty cloth. "You've been trying to get him to come haven't you?" She asked.

The smith was shocked by her voice but simply looked down to her and nodded. "We tried everything; food, water, a blanket! He just wouldn't come."

She smiled. "Well," She shifted the puppy out of her coat. "He's here now." She held him out and the blacksmith just stared for a moment. She held him out and the puppy looked to be judging weather or not he trusted the man. Tupyn gently stroked his rib and the puppy was comforted so when the smith held out his hand, the pup allowed him to stroke him.

The blacksmith smiled and took the pup, holding his close and stroking his chest with his forefinger.

"Make sure he's fed." Tupyn said. "Don't over feed him now; he'd malnourished so it'll just make him sick if you let him stuff himself. He might not grow very much since he didn't have the right care, I'd say he's maybe four or five months old but he could be older because he hasn't grown very much. He doesn't seem to like the sound of the whetstone so you might have to be patient on him on those terms."

He cocked an eyebrow. "And you got all that from holding him for five minutes?"

She smirked. "I'm good with animals."

He glanced over to the horses. "I can see that."

She bowed her head in thanks and smiled. "Be gentle with him," She warned. "He might take some work." She walked over to get her weapons without another word.

She couldn't help a chuckle as she looked at the huge line of blades belonging to Fíli. She moved to the end of the table where the - clearly elf-influenced - weapons were that belonged to her.

She slipped her sword into its sheath and the three throwing knives into the loops in her belt. A blade went into the leather strap around her thigh with another going into her right boot, after that she slipped two small combat knives into her bracers and gladly took back her bow. She picked up the two small flick knives that she'd purchased for convenience rather than confrontation and one of them went into her back pocket while the other went into the pocket into her coat. Being a woman, she'd found that concealing a blade in her bodice was a place where men rarely inspected beyond a glace or – occasionally – a stare, so her final blade was concealed between her breasts for that exact reason.

Fíli and Kíli moved over to the ponies and started sorting out their tack. Tupyn did the same and then they all mounted.

They paid and thanked the blacksmith and his apprentice before pushing their ponies into a walk and left the town of men.

Tupyn looked towards the sky and chuckled at how odd it felt that by nightfall they would be in Hobbiton and by the morning their quest would begin.

* * *

The door before them was round and painted a lovely shade of green. Tupyn was stood between the two brothers as they waited in anticipation for the owner of the house (or rather _hole_) to allow them entrance.

Hobbiton was one of the calmest places she'd been in many years. The night was clear and calm with cricket song ringing out into the abyss of night above them. The full moon above them was so bright that barely any stars were visible beyond it and it was lighting the way better than the lamps that were hung along the fences that lined the path. It was so tranquil that it almost unnerved Tupyn (evidently Kíli felt it too as he'd kept shifting uncomfortably in his saddle) and as much as she loved the calm, it put her on edge. There was a tiny part of her that told her to get out of Hobbiton as quickly as possible; the calm had no place in her life.

"What's his name again?" Kíli asked.

"Figgins?" Fíli guessed.

"No, no! It definitely started with a 'B'." Tupyn contributed.

"Then Biggins."

"The second letter wasn't an 'I'." Kíli thought out loud.

"Buggins?" Tupyn suggested.

"Beggins?" Said Fíli.

Kíli shook his head. "None of them sound quite right."

It was then that the door opened and the conversation finished. The trio were practically blinded by the warm light that was thrust in their faces as the hobbit stood in his doorway, seeming extremely unhappy about their appearance.

"Fíli."

"Kíli."

"And Tupyn."

_"At your service."_ They chorused. The two boys bowed low and Tupyn curtseyed.

The hobbit was flustered by their appearance; he looked about middle aged for a hobbit and was clearly used to his comfortable little life in his hole. She doubted that Dwarves were on the 'Allow Into Home' list.

"You must be Mr. Boggins." _Now that definitely wasn't right_.

"Nope!" He announced resolutely. "You cant come in, you've come to the wrong house."

Tupyn saw what was coming before the brothers even reacted but took a quick step back to see Fíli quickly step into the place she'd been, she probably would have been crushed by the brothers in the panic in which they had reacted.

"What?!" Kíli exclaimed, blocking the door with his forearm and his foot.

Tupyn sighed. She could see what was going to happen and she didn't like it. As much as she hated to admit it, she had an Elven demeanour (most of the time) and she could see that the two brothers were going to be very rude in about thirty seconds.

"Has it been cancelled?"

"No one told us." The elder brother said in confusion with an air that seemed to demand the hobbit to explain.

But the hobbit didn't catch on and simply frowned. "Wh-? _No! _Nothings been cancelled." _Here we go._

"That's a relief."

The brothers seemed to decide at the same time that if the hobbit wasn't going to invite them inside, then they'd invite themselves.

Tupyn sighed and slumped as she was left in the doorway with a shocked Bilbo simply staring ahead at nothing in particular. "Sorry." She said, stepping inside and waiting while Fíli shoved his weapons into the hobbits arms until she formally introduced herself.

He turned back towards her with the many weapons he found were suddenly in his possession and his face was going red like he was about to have a breakdown.

Tupyn smiled comfortingly. "What's your name? I know it's not Boggins."

The hobbit blinked a few times and swallowed. "Uhm," He gave a short cough and readjusted Fíli's many weapons. "Baggins." He looked up to her. "Bilbo Baggins."

"Hello Bilbo," She said in as calming a voice as she could manage. "I'm Tupyn. Sorry about the lads." She glanced to the brothers as Kíli was greeted by Dwalin. The older dwarf shot her and almost disapproving look before pulling the brunet into the dining room. She looked back to Bilbo and chuckled. "Here, why don't you give me those?"

He looked to her appreciatively and they shifted them into Tupyn's arms. She was much more comfortable with the blades and knew how to hold them properly so she straightened and attempted to give the Hobbit a tiny bit of stability and routine (as that's what she guessed he was lacking since they'd arrived).

"Do you have a spare room?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yes, just down the hall."

"Right, here's what you're going to do." He listened attentively as she was the only one offering him help. "Any other Dwarves who arrive, you're going to offer to take their coats and their weapons and if they give them to you, you're going to just dump them in the spare room. It'll save a lot of confusion later."

Bilbo swallowed and nodded so Tupyn left him to his thoughts before he could figure out how to interrogate her.

"Wait!" He called after her. She groaned deep in her chest so it was inaudible to him. "Why are you all here?"

Tupyn scoffed and gave a smirk. "That'd ruin the surprise." She said before walking into the spare room and leaving him there.

She moved into the room and quite simply dropped Fíli's weapons. _If he was going to be rude to Bilbo, She'd be rude to him _(Kíli would be getting a slap too)_._

She cast a glance to the room around her and was greeted by a lovely, lightly painted room decorated with generations upon generations of passed down furniture. She sighed in sudden realisation at just how hard it would be to get their hobbit on board. Even _she _wouldn't want to leave this house, it was too cosy and just _nice_; even in the unnerving calm and tranquillity of Hobbiton.

There was a chorused groan as the sound of many bodies hitting the floor practically rumbled the hole. She groaned and moved quickly into the hall where she was met by a pile of quest-goers complaining about the weight atop them. Bilbo had worked himself into such a large panic that she just stared at all of the dwarves at his feet in shock. He blinked several times in hope that maybe he was imagining it.

But he wasn't.

He turned to Tupyn when she groaned. "Wh-? What do I do now?" He asked.

Her face screwed up in almost pain as she thought about having to rip his small routine away from him. "Sorry," She said. "Abandon the previous plan." The dwarves were beginning to untangle themselves and meander into the pantry. "Just stay back and out of the way. Your house is going to get a little . . ." She looked away to try and think of a better word to describe it.

"What?" He was getting flustered and impatient because of it. "A little what?"

She sighed and decided to just say it. "Ransacked." At that she walked away, deciding that if he exploded due to the odd mix of confusion, anger and agitation then she wasn't going to get hit.

She vaguely heard him calm slightly as he muttered Gandalf's name and decided that maybe _nobody_ would get hit.

As she rounded the corner, someone grabbed her upper arm. She jumped and let out a small yelp as she instinctively hit the man (for it was obviously a man) in the chest.

She looked up to see Dwalin staring down at her.

She didn't give him a chance to speak because the strength with which he was gripping her arm was already going to bruise. "The last man who grabbed me lost a tooth and broke his nose." She warned through gritted teeth as her arm started to throb in pain. She ignored it and he begrudgingly released her. He looked like he wanted to apologize but decided not to.

"I expected you to have gone home." He rumbled.

"Well you expected wrong."

"You shouldn' be 'ere lass."

"And why not?" She asked, becoming increasingly sick of his quite frankly belittling and discriminative attitude towards her. Her stance was defiant and she never once broke eye contact with him. "Why should I not be here any more than any of you?"

"because ye don't _need _to be 'ere." He said, his voice a lot less confronting and a lot more _pleading._

So she had an answer. He didn't want her there because she had nothing compelling her to go, if she so wished she could decide that she didn't like her Dwarven side and go and live with the first elves she found; she could dismiss the stories she'd been raised on and go and learn different ones of a different race.

It made sense that he wouldn't want her to go if there was such a big contributor as blood meaning that she could betray them.

She sighed, stance relaxing as his did.

What he didn't realise was that he blood was the exact reason she was there in the first place.

"Where _do _I need to be?" She asked. It was an honest question, she'd asked herself it way too many times over the decades and she constantly came up with blanks. He just stared for a moment. "Tell me if you've got an answer." She all but begged. "Because I need one. I don't belong with Dwarves because of my Elf blood, I don't belong with Elves because of my dwarf blood; I have nowhere to go, I have no home."

"No," he said. "You 'ave a home with us. But you do nay have te fight fer it."

"That might be true but where do I belong if I don't?" She paused. "I may have a home with you but I'll always have Elf in me. It's a state of mind which race I _want _to belong to and if I don't come with you on this quest then I may as well give into the part of my ancestry that I quite frankly don't want to give into."

"You would nay have to." He tried to convince her but she'd had decades of thinking time and there was no changing her reasoning.

"_But I would!"_ She insisted. "If I don't do this then I may as well be the Elf deluding herself into thinking she's really a dwarf. If I don't do this then I truly lose what I am trying to turn into my home. I'm grasping onto what little tie I have to belonging and if I don't come then it'll snap and I'll be lost." Dwalin just stared at her reasoning and sighed before she continued. "What am I supposed to do?" She asked. It was another question that she'd had sleepless nights thinking about; another question she needed a reply to for her to belong.

Dwalin just sighed. "Do not feel like ye are _required _to be here." He said before stalking off to sort out the food.

The conversation had left her in something of an emotional stoop which was only halted slightly when she turned to see Kíli watching her from where he and Fíli were trying to figure out how to sort out the ale.

"That was intense," He quipped.

Tupyn merely scoffed and rolled as if to say _'don't worry about it.'_ She observed them as they assessed every angle of the barrel. "Talk about one track mind, lads." She said as she dipped her arm into the pantry to grab some ham.

Kíli looked up to her. "Oh, I think about much more than just ale."

Tupyn rolled her eyes and kicked him lightly as she passed and went to find a place for the ham.

Fíli hit Kíli over the head when Tupyn was out of earshot. Kíli was so used to being hit that he didn't even call out.

He went to ask why he'd done it but Fíli beat him to it. "Could you be a little less obvious!" He scolded quietly. "It's ridiculous! You two are just _asking _to be forbidden from one another." He'd snapped at his brothers building confidence around the woman and he wasn't about to stop. "Believe it or not I don't actually want that to happen, I think it'd be great . . . _if you manage to get blessing. _I mean, _seriously,_ Kí! Use your bloody head! You can't go around distracting each other, uncle won't hesitate to send her home and you know that."

Kíli looked down in slight shame and nodded.

Fíli thought for a moment and then scoffed. His brother looked up to him; confused at the sudden change in his brothers attitude.

"What?" The brunet asked.

"you're really going to go for it aren't you?" He said.

"Go for what?"

"Her." He gestured to the woman as she moved things on the table to put the plate down.

"Why shouldn't I?"

The blond chuckled. "She looks like an elf." He said. "She's definitely got the looks of one; she's worthy of an elf."

"And why are elves better than us?"

Fíli looked taken aback by how his brother had read his words. "They're not by any means but look at _her_." The brothers suddenly found themselves just looking at Tupyn, watching the way she moved and smiled at Bofur as he made a quip at something funny. She moved with grace and a gentleness that kept developing and shocking Kíli when he found something else she'd done that showed a calm and kind heart inside her. "She's way too good for you." Fíli said, teasing his younger brother who simply reached over the barrel of ale and thumped him on the arm.

* * *

_**It's time for the Authors Note in bold italics! Yay! **_

_**So a new chapter! What did you think of the little Dwalin Tupyn disagreement? Or Fíli and Kíli's chat at the end? I do all of this for you, loyal readers so please tell me what you thought. I'm sure you're all well accustomed to the routine by now. It's time to watch me grovel again! What did you think? I need your reviews more than anything because it's great that you're all following this thing that I managed to actually upload after almost a year but I don't actually know if you really like it until you tell me in a review. Tell me how to improve or maybe things that you want to see? I'll answer questions too. Yet again, if you don't want to review publicly when sent me an ask on Tumblr or a PM on here. Please! I promise that I don't bite - I'm British, I said sorry to a table for walking into it today - I'm not as scary as some of you seem to think. **_

_**Thank you so much for reading, getting notifications to do with this piece are the highlights of my day and It's wonderful to know that - at least a few of - you are enjoying it. So thank you. **_


	9. Chapter 9 - The Letter

_**Chapter 9 - The Letter**_

* * *

"Still here?" Gandalf's voice rumbled behind Tupyn. She jumped and then frowned.

"Why does everyone seem to think I'm going to leave?" She asked, realising that since Dwalin had asked her, both Bofur (albeit jokingly) and Ori had asked her.

"I'm not sure," Gandalf replied. "Why? How many have asked?" Gandalf had suspected that some might not be exactly thrilled with her presence and some of the dwarves seemed blind to just how important she could be. However, she had seemed to convince Fíli and Kíli of her worth.

She sighed. "Four including you." She picked another plate from the pantry and distracted emerald eyes looked up to him. "Have you seen Thorin?" She asked, attempting to change the conversation as she followed the flow of dwarves.

The wizard suddenly realised that he hadn't and his expression became concerned. "No, actually. I haven't." Tupyn read his expression and frowned. "I'm sure he won't be long." The wizard said, realising he'd been quiet for a few moments.

Tupyn _'hmm'_-ed sceptically and moved into what had become the dining room to place the plate on the table, leaving the wizard behind.

She wasn't entirely sure if she was excited to see Thorin or if whatever he'd referenced in the letter the previous day was going to be too much information for her to handle.

She felt her hand unconsciously move to the gem resting on her chest and she fiddled with it for a moment before she swallowed and stopped herself

The dwarves had started to take their seats and she was forced into a seat between Fíli and Kíli. She'd protested but an insisting look from Fíli made her sit. It was as Kíli took up the place next to her that she remembered and hit him hard on the shoulder.

He hadn't been expecting it and looked at her; taken aback, rubbing the spot he'd hit. "What was that for?"

"For being rude to Bilbo."

_"So that's his name._" The brothers chorused before Kíli looked back to Tupyn. "He wasn't going to let us in!"

"He would have if you gave him a minute."

Kíli frowned, throwing a gesture towards his brother. "And what about him?"

"His weapons are in a rather unruly pile in the spare room." She said, loud enough for Fíli to hear. She smiled when she heard the older brother sigh and looked down to Kíli who was suddenly much more concerned with how much her hit had actually hurt.

"That hit," He said. "It was impressive."

She chuckled. "Years of practice."

"In hitting people?"

Bofur laughed as he listened to the conversation. "She's not as innocent as you seem to think lads."

The brothers looked to Tupyn who was smiling as some memory she shared with Bofur. She noticed them and shrugged. "Not many men expect a woman to stand her ground or protest against what they want out of her. They also don't expect her to hit them." She chuckled.

It was without another word that they turned their attention to the food.

Tupyn was more than used to grappling for food; she'd been raised in a house with one fully grown dwarf and two still growing dwarves. She remembered all the injuries she and her brothers had abstained from practically running over each other to get to the kitchen, in their house, the rule had been 'act fast or starve'.

So she dived into the table of food and emerged with some ham, an egg, some cheese she'd nicked from Bombur when he wasn't looking, a chicken leg and two sausages that she'd packed into a roll.

"Pass me one of those." Fíli said, gesturing to the pile of chicken legs. In actual fact, it probably would have been better asking Kíli to get him one as he was closer, but he hadn't, he'd asked her so she leant over Kíli in determination to get one.

"Whoa." Kíli said, breath running down her neck as he leant out of the way to let her reach. Her eye flittered momentarily and her stomach clenched at the feel of his heated breath on her skin.

She slipped a little and the only thing stopping her from falling completely into his lap was his hand on her hip. He'd been so quick to react and hold her up that she hadn't even had time to squeak her surprise as she gripped the chicken leg. To be completely honest, his hand didn't help her one bit because – combined with his lingering breath – she all but dissolved into him.

She recovered and slipped from his grip, sinking thankfully into her chair and passing the leg to Fíli who hadn't seemed to notice their combined slip up.

She tried – honestly she did – not to think about how nice his touch had felt of how much she wanted to feel his breath against her skin once more but when his finger touched her hand beneath the table she found all of the forced down thoughts leaking to the surface.

She looked up into those mischievous, leather brown eyes and couldn't help but push her hand up to lace her fingers with his.

It was as big a gesture as any while they were in that room. It was gentle and protective ad promising. It was hundreds of words; unspoken but shared as thoughts and feelings. His hands were rough and calloused with years of handling and training with weapons but he was steady as well; his touch never once wavering through years of keeping aim.

For a single moment, she toyed with the idea that maybe _'they' _could happen; that maybe she'd found herself with him. But then she remembered that he was a prince; he was third in line for the throne of Erebor and she wasn't even a full dwarf. She would be as much a burden on him as she had been on herself.

She reluctantly pulled her hand away from his own and hoped that maybe he'd just assume that she needed two hands to eat. But by the way his eyes were boring into her temple; she guessed she hadn't fooled him.

She practically shovelled her food down and defended herself when Fíli picked up on her un-elf-like eating habits. She gladly took a mug of ale when he scrambled down the table with several in his hands.

She met Bofur's eyes over the table as everyone started to cheer and hoist their mugs into the air. He smiled and gave her a look that seemed to say _'I bet you can't still do it_.' It was a challenge and she wasn't about to give in.

"I'm not doing it." She said.

"Ach, go on." He tempted.

"No."

"Go on."

"No."

"Go on." She looked into the ale and then up to Bofur before smiling and giving in. necking her drink just like the others. But she wasn't going to burp. She was _not _going to burp.

She sat back when Nori showed his skills and then when Ori showed his secret skills in the art, she couldn't help it.

She stood and shot Bofur an _'I-can't-believe-you've-gotten-me-into-this' _look. She braced her hand against her chest and simply let the burp slip. She'd always had big lungs and this was a perfect example of how to use them.

She didn't mean to silently rejoice with a _'still got it' _in her head as she sat back down but she did and she didn't feel even slightly guilty about it.

She laughed and leant over the table to shake Ori's hand in appreciation of the good game. He took it and they shook before Tupyn slipped back into the chair. "Talk about embracing your blood." Said Bofur and she looked at him and smiled.

She then noticed Bilbo out of the corner of her eyes and burst out laughing when he was giving her one of the most confused looks she'd ever seen. Clearly, he'd never seen a woman do that before.

She knew that once everyone was finished, there would be about five to seven minutes where she could jump outside and 'check on the ponies'.

So that's what she did. She moved into the spare room, not bothering to light a candle and simply using the light from the hall to shin inside when she grabbed an apple from her bag before slipping a knife out and cutting it into quarters.

She froze as she heard footsteps behind her and then relaxed when she realised that they were Kíli's tread and gait. She didn't turn but his hands found her hips and his chin rested gently on her shoulder.

He knew what was going on. He knew that she was scared; about what exactly he wasn't sure but he could feel it.

She was an inch or two shorter than him and a fair bit slimmer. For a moment, he smiled as he realised that in their close proximity, he could smell the fresh air on her skin and the scent of mint that constantly lingered on her breath from chewing on mint leaves, there was also the slight smell of horse hair but it was almost unnoticeable.

He squeezed her hips slightly and his breath brushed her shouder.

She sighed and reluctantly moved away from him, crossing her arms over her chest and facing him.

He frowned. "What's wrong?"

She swallowed and looked up to him with regretful eyes. "We can't." She all but whispered.

He seemed to have known that she was going to say that because he scoffed. "And why not?" There were hints of a smile on his lip and she felt personally responsible for its disappearance when she spoke again.

"Because you don't need a distraction."

He stiffened. "Why does everyone seem to believe that you are going to be such a big distraction to me?" It had almost been hard to keep track of his sudden change in mood and tone. She'd never seen Kíli show any emotion that strayed far from happiness so the slight spark of anger in his eyes caught Tupyn off guard.

"Because that's what's bound to happen."

He stepped forward and placed his hands onto her upped arms. "But what if it didn't?" He asked desperately.

She didn't falter. "And how can you promise that? How could you even nearly envelope me into the fold of you and Fíli? What happens if I get in the way?"

He smiled. "Tupyn," He said bluntly, the smile returning slightly. "We already have enveloped you into the fold." She frowned and Kíli looked way too happy to be able to dismiss one of her points. "When we practiced the other day, it was to watch how you worked; it was so we could work around you. I know you were doing the same."

She had gawked at him as he'd spoke. In less than a week, the brothers had simply accepted her. There had been no particular questions into her background (which had been one of the things she'd been most worried about) or any scepticism about her ancestry. It was nice to not worry about anyone's opinions.

"Wh-" She was confused as to why it had been so simple to them. "Why?"

He gave a single chuckle. "Because you're one of us now." Of all the words he could have said, those were the ones that hit her hard. Just hours before she'd been conflicted with herself about where she belonged and here he was telling her that she belonged with them; _with him._

She sighed a shaky breath and looked away for a moment. "People have died," She confessed. "Because of me." Kíli gave her a sympathetic look. "If I –" Her words stuck so she swallowed and forced out words. "If I was to cause your death too because I really am going to be a distraction, I don't think I could –"

He stopped her from talking by pulling her into a hug where he felt her body shake as she forced the threatening tears back. She never cried and when she did it certainly wasn't in front of people. It was the tenderest part of her being and to show it was tantamount to personally handing someone blackmail material.

But Kíli was different. If there was one person who she'd allow herself to cry in front of, it seemed to be him. She wasn't entirely sure why but she wasn't worried.

"I'm not going to die, Tup." It wasn't just words, it was a promise and she suddenly realised that he knew; he knew that she'd been alone and he knew that her biggest fear wasn't what might ensue on the quest, it was that afterwards she would quite simply be left alone again.

She sniffed as he hand gripped his jacket, unwilling to let go. "I thought I'd just disappear eventually; I thought that maybe people would just forget my name and that I ever even existed."

There was silence for a moment as Kíli's hand stroked her hair. _"I won't let you disappear."_ He whispered softly and the first stray tear managed to escape. There was no sob following it so kili had no idea of the stare she was in as she held him as hard as possible. After a moment they moved away and Kíli bent down slightly to look her in the eye. "Listen," He said, his hands gently reaching to hold her hands. "I won't push, nothing evn has to happen. Just, _please,_ don't dismiss this." He begged. "Don't dismiss what's developing."

Tupyn just stared into his pleading eyes for a moment before sighing and nodding. "I won't." She swallowed. "But we really could get in trouble."

Kíli gave a single chuckle and smiled at her. "Tupyn," He assured. "I really don't care."

* * *

"No!" Bofur said. "Right foot."

"You said left." Tupyn defended, looking down at her feet to get them into the right position.

"I did not." He moved his hand to the top of her back to correct her posture. Tupyn glanced up to Kíli who was gently puffing of his pipe and gave a small smile which he quickly returned. Fíli was stood next to his with his fiddle in his hand.

Bofur had decided that she needed to learn to dance since she'd never come of age before her father had died. She'd danced with her brothers a few times from what they'd picked up from watching people practice but nothing remotely _'proper'_.

Bofur nodded to Fíli who braced the fiddle beneath his chin. Kíli placed his pipe down and picked up his own dark brown instrument. "Right foot." Bofur clarified and Tupyn nodded, glancing down at her feet. "Look up; ye'll get picky if ye watch yer feet."

Kíli braced the bow next to the instrument and made sure he and the older brother were going to play the same song.

Bofur nodded for the brothers to start and they did so. He led the way with their joined hands and – although she initially made a few mistakes – she eventually got the hang of it and even started to enjoy it.

To be completely honest, the kitchen was not the best place to learn any kind of dance let alone one that was as fast-paced as what Bofur had decided to teach her and as Oin passed them with three plates of leftovers they almost smashed straight into him.

They laughed an apology and Bofur swung her round once more.

She caught sight of Bilbo who looked like he was about to have an aneurism at how much he was panicking. "C-could you stop that?" He asked meekly. Bofur just smiled and stopped the main movement to spin Tupyn around a few times.

_"And that is a doily! Not a dish cloth!" _Bilbo said to a dwarf that Tupyn couldn't see.

"But it's full of holes." Bofur argued, stopping Tupyn's spins and pulling her back into him.

"It's meant to look like that," Tupyn glanced over Bofur's shoulder to look at the hobbit as he folded his precious doily. "It's crochet."

Bofur laughed, looking over his own shoulder to glance at Bilbo. "And a wonderful game it is too, if ye've got the balls fer it."

He started moving again as Tupyn laughed at his retort. They almost hit Gandalf as he moved into the kitchen and the wizard gave a low chuckle as they once more laughed an apology (he could hardly find it inconvenient that they were having a good time).

Bilbo started complaining the Gandalf and they left the kitchen as the song started to draw to and end.

Tupyn found herself watching Kíli play the fiddle. She found herself observing his deft fingers as they padded the worn strings and his foot as his heel bashed the floor the keep in time, the occasional glances of success at Fíli when they each remembered the little bits they had changed from the normal tune and from each other to add their own take on the classic.

Bofur dipped her down and Tupyn yelped at the shock of suddenly being close to the floor. He kept her there for a moment and she laughed at how surprisingly fun the dance had been. She smiled and gave his a quick kiss on the cheek in thanks, stealing his hat as she did so.

He frowned as she placed it on her own head and lifted her back onto her feet. Fíli and Kíli patted each other (rather roughly) on the back and slipped their instruments back into the hard cases.

Bofur let her have the hat while he went over to his cousin at the sink and she moved to Kíli. The brunet looked down at her and clipped the case shut. "New hat?" He asked with a smile.

"Do you like it?" She asked. "I think I might keep it."

"Ye're not keepin' it." Bofur exclaimed pointing at her.

She laughed and looked up at Kíli past the fur on the front of the hat. He smiled. "I'm just going to put this away." He looked down to the case and left the kitchen to put it near his bags.

Bofur passed her and took his hat back with a wink.

"Tupyn!" She suddenly heard Kíli call and she turned to see a place flying towards her face. She momentarily thought about stepping out of the way but didn't and quickly shot her arm out to bump it off her wrist, gently nudging it with her foot towards Bifur who placed it in the sink.

She looked to see Kíli arch an impressed eyebrow before he needed to look back to Fíli to catch a bowl.

They threw a few more items between the three of them with Tupyn throwing them to Bifur at the sink.

Eventually, Bilbo made such a fuss that the dwarves decided to silence him with a song. Tupyn didn't join in as she didn't know the words but (through some very careful listening) she picked up the tune to hum along and she could just about figure out when they were going to say _'That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!'_ so found that she could join in then.

About midway through the song, Tupyn found herself stopping and just looking around, a small smile slipping onto her face. She felt like a cog that had finally fallen into place, she'd finally become part of something. She was a member of the company and despite some people scepticism; nothing was going to get her to leave. She felt the Dwarven part of her gain another slight bit of the upper hand against the Elven part and she grew a little more into her skin.

She heard the final repeat of the words she'd picked up and leant against the doorway just in time to see Bilbo stare at the pile of freshly cleaned pots. She wouldn't normally laugh directly _at _people but the Hobbit's face was as adorable as it was funny and she couldn't help but laugh along.

But the loud thumps on the door made her face drop quicker than any one else's.

_Thorin._

She wasn't entirely sure if she could pinpoint the exact reason she wasn't looking forward to seeing him. On one hand she was thrilled that shed been mostly accepted and she'd successfully made the journey to The Shire as well as making friends with his nephews but on the other hand, she'd gone a little past _'friends' _with the youngest and wasn't entirely sure she'd have enough willpower to even attempt to keep it from him. She also knew that he had information for her regarding her mother (from what she'd guessed) and she really wasn't sure if she was ready for that.

They moved into the hall and Tupyn stayed in the doorway to stay a little out of the way.

It was Gandalf who opened the door to Thorin but she couldn't see him as he greeted the wizard. He stepped inside and started to remove his coat. "I thought you said this place was easy to find," He said and he looked to his left to spot her. "I got lost." She smiled at his words as if they were a reply to their final conversation before he'd left. She found it odd that in those three words she'd felt her self relax slightly. He looked back to Gandalf. "Twice."

Thorin looked much more regal than the last time she'd seen him. At the training ground, he'd been wearing practically worn-through trousers and a rather dirty, creased top with his hair pulled haphazardly out of his face.

If the link between him and his nephews hadn't been prominent before, they certainly were now. He and the younger shared the same dark hair and it was odd how – quite frankly – _similar _the king and older nephew were looks-wise. He'd clearly been the main father figure in their life, considering that their father died when they were young, because they held themselves with a pride that barely faltered.

It was rather humbling to see them together to be quite honest.

Thorin pulled something out of his cloak before handing the garment to Kíli. From what she could see, it was a small, neatly folded letter.

Tupyn felt her stomach contract and he held it between his fore and middle finger as he handed it to her. "I wouldn't have found it at all had it not been for that mark on the door." He said, his eyes connecting with hers as reluctant fingers took the letter from him.

Bilbo immediately protested against the condition of his beloved door and Thorin nodded comfortingly to the Elven-Dwarf before turning to him.

The letter felt heavy in her hands and the conversation around her faded to silence. She just stared at the emerald green wax seal and the initials _'CL' _that were pressed into it.

So she'd been right about the letter being from her mother.

She was pulled out of the trace by a strong hand on the front of her shoulder. She looked up to see Thorin as he shot her another comforting look and mouthed _'open it'_.

So as the dwarves too their seats around the table, Tupyn moved into Bilbo's drawing room to sit in the armchair by the fire. It was there that she continued to stare at the parchment and seal, toying with the idea of just casting it into the golden flames and not thinking twice about it to rid herself of the horrible conflict inside her.

But she didn't and instead, with annoyingly shaky hands, she gently pulled the seal away from the parchment.

* * *

_**Hello loyal followers! I'll be quite honest in saying that I'm not exactly happy with this chapter. The next one - I'm totally happy with that one but this one's a fairly important one in terms of what's to come next. I'm quite happy with the scene in the spare room and the dancing scene but a bit iffy with the rest, What did you think? I'm trying to add a little bit of humour but I'm not entirely sure if I'm doing okay or just failing miserably, if I'm not failing and your actually enjoying the little glimmers of humour, then I'm sorry to say that any possibly funny bits might be a little bit bogged down by how Tupyn's going to be feeling in the next few chapters. You'll find out when I put the next chapter up. **_

_**Thank you to the four people who have actually listened to my plea for reviews, they're the best things to receive, so thank you for that. **_

_**This chap was also a little short but the next ones are a little longer so it should make up for it. It's nice to watch the views go up for this, you're actually catching up with my Being Human fic so that's quite nice to see. **_

_**Thank you once again for reading, I'm trying to get as much done as possible so that when I go on exam leave, I can actually focus on revision and exams rather than this but you can still get the updates. That's the plan anyway. PLEASE REVIEW, FAVOURITE AND FOLLOW! Thank you!**_


	10. Chapter 10 - The Contents

**_Chapter 10 - The Contents_**

* * *

_'Tupyn' _Her name was writ in that frustratingly familiar font; the one she had pressed into her head as she'd sobbed over years of collected parchment in her empty house; the one that had ran in the salted tears from the letter to stain the sheets; the one she'd hoped she'd never see again.

_'My darling girl.' _She pulled her eyes away when she realised that she was reading in her mothers' voice and once more she was filled with a rage that almost forced her hand to throw the letter into the flames.

But she still didn't.

_'I shan't fool around with pleasantries as I fear that to act like nothing happened would force you to rip this letter up and not think twice." _Tupyn cast a glance up to the flames. _'But please do not. This letter has several purposes: the first is an apology. When I left, my behaviour was despicable, I knew what had happened with your father and brothers and I should have been a mother to you and at the very least been there to comfort you. I think often about how I could have acted and about the guilt that I now have about what I really did. So for what I put you through, I'm sorry._

_'The second cause for this letter is to explain. Elves are after me; Elves of the woodland realm to be exact. I'm sure you have a suspicion as to why and the fact they're after me was the reason I had to leave. Woodland elves rarely leave the safety of their home but already a band of them has chased me from their lands, to Ered Luin and almost back again before chasing me far down south, I had to leave you to for your own safety._

_'The third reason for this letter is to warn you. I haven't the slightest idea what power forced Thorin and I to meet but it was a very twisted one as he told me of your trouble and only swelled the guilt inside of me. He told me of his plans for Erebor and how he intends to invite you to join him and whatever company he can muster. Quite frankly, I am thrilled that you have found a better cause for your time than that damned house of your fathers which I know you will have looked after like it could feel everything you've done and you've finally given into the adventurous gene that both your father and I possessed. However, I must ask you to be careful, if you come across any elves that are unaware of your lineage, please refrain from telling them of me, I cannot guarantee that my name will mean nothing to them and if it does in fact mean something then it could get you in severe trouble. You and your brothers were the reason that the elves are after me and I wouldn't put it past them that they have some rather unfair plans for you if you happen to cross paths._

_'The fourth is to inform. That gem that I hope you currently wear around your neck is a dragon's breath (although I'm certain that you already knew that), It's one of many but one of only three that have more to them than what first meets the eye. I fear I may have put you in more danger by giving it to you but you must keep it. Sadly for you, you have no choice in the matter; once that clasp was shut the dragon's breath was bonded to you.' _Tupyn didn't quite like the sound of that and found herself tugging frantically at the clasp but it wouldn't budge. She tried tugging on the chain but all she got was a sore imprint of the chain on the back of her neck. She found herself sighing in resignation and flicking her eyes back to the letter. _'It's one of five. I'm almost certain that one has been lost completely but the other three are somewhere in Erebor. These specific five gems form the Cravensbond. As far as I know, little is actually known about the Cravensbond but as far as I know, it holds some very odd but no doubt mystifying qualities.' _

She'd heard of the Cravensbond. She knew that people tended to believe what they wanted to believe and nobody actually knew what it did. She was a little annoyed that her mother had given her an extremely desirable gem and bound it to her body.

_'The fifth is to say goodbye. I am tired and the elves have been catching up with me for almost sixty miles, by the time you will have read this I will have been captured and killed.' _Despite how much she despised her mother, this had not been what she'd expected when she'd broken that seal. _'Yet again, I am sorry for what I've put you through and I cannot stress how much you must be wary on the road. You will always be my daring girl.'_

_'Cedia Logreig.'_

Tupyn just stared at the parchment. Her chest suddenly felt too small and her eyes flicked from the black words to her fingers where she found that she was trembling. She swallowed and felt her breath shake in her lungs as she attempted to pull oxygen into her body to cool the sudden, uncomfortable boiling heat collecting just below her ribs and spreading through her body.

She didn't know what was happening. Her mother wasn't supposed to die. She wasn't supposed to leave her alone. She thought she'd felt alone before but now she knew what loneliness truly felt like; it was a horrible ache in her core. She felt like she no longer had a direction, everything she had done before the letter had been fuelled by a hatred of her Elven blood and of the woman who gave it to her. She'd had a _need _to feel like a Dwarf, to show her father that he hadn't died for no reason, but now she felt as if she owed her _mother _something too.

She stood up and started to pace in front of the fire. She had to move; she needed to calm herself down. But she couldn't pull in enough breath to provide for the erratic movements she was making so she sat again. She perched herself on the end of the seat cushion and braced her elbows on her knees. She dropped the letter so she could hold her head in her hands and then pulled long, deep gasps of air into her lungs and her heart beat soon slowed. Her flinching muscles stopped and her hands stopped trembling.

It was just as she breathed a sigh of relief that the horrible tears started to well in her eyes.

Another person had died because of her. It wasn't enough that her father and brothers had; her mother had to die too. _Was this some sick lesson that the world had decided she needed to learn? _ It didn't matter that she all but hated the woman, death left a hole in everyone it surrounded. To have someone close to you die makes you realise just how harsh the world is; just how unfair.

So her mothers' death _added _to the hole inside her; the horrible rotting section close to her core that seemed to just keep expanding.

"I forgive you." She whispered as she first tear slipped from her eye and rolled off of her cheekbone to land on her knee, turning the fabric a deep brown. She never thought the words would come out of her mouth. She took another calming breath. "I forgive you." She repeated. It was forgiveness for leaving; forgiveness for anything her mother had apologised for, even when Tupyn couldn't hear them.

She sat up and opened her eyes, ignoring the blur from the water collecting on her lower lid. She gasped in another breath and ran the pad of her right thumb below both eyes. She was calming now, on the outside at least. There was a mix of confusing emotions inside her that she couldn't quite fathom so she decided to merely suppress them rather than confront them.

She stood on unsure feet and bent to pick up the letter. She would have destroyed it by now but Thorin needed to know and she wasn't entirely sure if she could explain.

She heaved a breath and straightened herself up, checking her face in the glass of a framed picture to make sure she wasn't still in too much of a state. She tucked a stray strand if hair behind her ear and rubbed her eyes to rid them of the slight red tint.

She stepped out into the corridor and spotted Bilbo almost having a panic attack near the kitchen. She chuckled. _Must be something about the house that makes people break down. _She decided to just eave him to it and attempt to get to the dining room from the other end. But Bilbo had other idea.

"Um? Tupyn?" She groaned internally but turned to face him nonetheless. He frowned. "Are you alright?"

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Yes, of course. Why?"

He hummed. "I know that look. You're lying to me."

To be quite honest, she liked the hobbit; he was calm (most of the time) and seemed like he could be a very reliable and collected person. But she wasn't exactly ready to grant him access to her inner thoughts. "Be that as it may, I'm not currently prepared to discuss it." She turned again in a hope that maybe she'd just leave her be.

"I just wanted to say thank you." His words stopped her in her tracks. "Most of these dwarves have been nothing but rude to me and you're the only one who has shown me even a shred of kindness." She turned her head slightly to the side. "I just wanted you to know that it doesn't go unnoticed."

She swallowed. Nobody had said thank you to her in a long time; she hadn't done anything different than she normally would. She figured that this was a different situation and a completely different type of person doing the thanking but it still froze her in her spot.

She turned to him fully and found that she quite simply couldn't comprehend words. So she simply crossed her arm over her stomach and bowed low in respect. He dipped his head in acknowledgement and she straightened. Neither moved for a moment before Tupyn spun on her heels and moved into the dining room.

Only a few people registered she'd even moved into the room as their eyes were mostly stuck on the king. Fíli glanced up to her and the younger brother's gaze followed. Kíli frowned slightly, like he'd sensed something was wrong, but patted the seat he'd saved nonetheless. She sat and his hand rubbed the small of her back comfortingly before looking back to the conversation and removing his hand.

"Ravens have been seen flying back from the mountains as it was foretold:"Oin announced. "'When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end.'" An odd chill ran through the entire company at his words and she looked up to see Thorin looking at her with a concerned look. She sighed and looked down; he needed to find out at some point. _Why not now?_

She slipped her hand into her pocket and slipped out the letter, skinning it across the wooden table at just the right speed so that it landed just within arms reach. He frowned slightly and plucked it up, casting a questioning look to her. She gave him a gesture that said she insisted he read it and he did so.

She didn't watch him read it but after a while she felt his gaze. She swallowed and looked up to see the look of concern on his face as Bofur started explaining the 'beast' to Bilbo.

She simply shrugged to Thorin and he looked at her with a scolding gaze. It was hardly the best act of nonchalance she'd ever done but even if it had been it wouldn't have gotten past Thorin.

She sighed. _'what do you want me to do?' _she said in a glance.

He looked like he was about to say something but through better of it and just sighed. _'Are you alright?'_

She calmed too and just closed her eyes momentarily. When she opened them, she held an air of certainty. She nodded and he simply gave her a look that said they'd talk later.

She didn't have a chance to reply because she was distracted by Ori standing up next to her. "I'm not afraid! _I'm _up for it! I'll give his a taste of Dwarvish iron right up his jacksie!" She didn't cheer with the rest but simply looked back to Thorin with a smile.

He bowed his head slightly and she did the same as a mutual agreement that nothing else would be said of the matter.

"The task would be difficult enough with an armybehind us." Balin silenced the jeers of the men around him. "But numbered just 14? And not thirteen of the best . . ." He paused to glance around. _"Or brightest."_

She cocked an eyebrow and almost stood to object but Fíli noticed the sudden rise in tension and spoke up. "We may _be _few in number, but we're fighters; all of us! _'Til the last dwarf!"_

"And you forget we have a wizard in our company," Kíli interjected. "Gandalf will have killed hundreds of dragons in his time."

All attention went to the wizard in his corner and he attempted to avoid the questions when the dwarves demanded for an answer. She felt Kíli's hand on her back again and he was suddenly at her ear as the noise slowly rose in the room. "And 3 . . . 2 . . . 1."

Thorin stood up at that point and bellowed. "Shazara!" He stood and the entire company leant back in their chairs to move away from the sudden sound. "If we have seen these signs, do you not think others will have read them too?" He asked his voice low and reverberating around the room. "The dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years. Eyes look east; assessing, wondering, weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of out people now stands unprotected so we _sit back _while others claim what is rightfully ours?" He paused again. "Or do we cease this chance to _take back Erebor?_"

Tupyn smiled. He was very good; he hadn't answered any questions, there were no reassurances that they would be safe of that they wouldn't meet a fiery death, simply a promise of the glory that they would soon experience.

"Du bekár!" He shouted, thrusting his fist into the air and enticing exclamations of pride and excitement from his company. "Du bekár!"

For a moment she was pulled into a memory she'd once tried to forget the context of. It was the first time she'd thought about how good he was with words. He seemed to have an odd ability to compel people with his words. She remembered how he'd woven words for her to stop tears and hushed her into a calm sleep with his voice when she'd needed it most.

She was pulled away from her thoughts by the room suddenly becoming completely silent other than the wise voice of Gandalf. "That, my dear Balin, is not entirely true." He twirled his fingers and Tupyn found herself cocking a very confused – but nonetheless impressed - eyebrow as a key appeared in his twirling fingers.

Thorin was just staring at the key, seemingly stunned by it. Everyone had a similar expression on their face as if they'd seen their fate in the single iron item; in a way they had. That one key would fuel their quest. They had a way inside the mountain and - therefore – they had _hope._

"If there's a key . . ." Fíli pointed out after Gandalf had explained the short version of how the key came into his possession and Thorin had carefully grasped the key before holding it to his chest in his strong hand. ". . . There must be a door."

Gandalf heaved a breath and pointed to the map on the table that Tupyn hadn't even noticed. "These runes speak of a hidden passage-" The entire company leant in slightly to get a better look. "-To the lower halls."

She felt Kíli shift beside her with a smile on his face. "There's another way in." A chill ran through the company at those four words and they turned their attention back to Gandalf.

"Well, if we can find it but dwarf doors are invisible when closed." He looked to the company and padded his finger on the map. "The answer lies hidden somewhere in this map but I do not have the skill to find it." He focused singly on Thorin. "But there are others ion Middle Earth who can. The task I have in mind will require a great deal of stealth and no small amount of courage but if we are careful and clever, I believe it can be done."

"That's why we need a burglar." Ori contributed.

Bilbo hummed. "A good one too. An expert I'd imagine."

"And are you?" Gloin asked, his accent coming through thick.

"Am I what?" Bilbo asked, looking round confusedly. Hid eyes met Tupyn's and she gave him a half-smile that told him to just relax and wait.

"He said he's an expert! He hey!" Oin misheard and rejoiced, starting some dwarves to laugh.

"M-me? No, no, no, no, no. I'm not a burglar; I've never stolen a thing in my life."

"I'm afraid I'd have to agree with Mr. Baggins." Balin said. "He's hardly burglar material."

"Aye," His brother agreed. "The wild is no place for gentlefolk who can neither fight nor fend for themselves."

Bilbo started to nod in agreement and Tupyn scoffed at how much he was deluding himself that he didn't actually _want _to go on this quest. Dwalin stood suddenly as Bifur did the same and they started threatening each other, their brothers and relatives attempting to hold them back.

Gandalf started to shake slightly and Tupyn tensed. She'd ran into Gandalf once or twice on her own travels and one time he hadn't found her at the best of times; she'd had a group of men be extremely violent towards her on the road and as she'd gotten away it had left her in the most disagreeable mood. So when Gandalf found her, she'd been in no mood for conversations and couldn't help her attitude. But Gandalf had been having none of it and soon scared her into listening to him. And she had no ambition to be the receiver of such a method from him again. She knew what was going to happen and quickly buried her head under her arms and screwed her eyes shut.

"Tupy-?" Kíli only got half way through her name when Gandalf voice rumbled much louder than it normally did around the room. She tensed and the entire room was suddenly consumed by silence.

"Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet-" As Gandalf started making Bilbo's part in the quest seem as big as he possibly could make it, Tupyn looked back up and corrected her posture.

"What on earth was that?"

Tupyn sighed and shrugged. "Just something he does, it scares me half to death."

Kíli chuckled. "I could tell."

"It's quite a feat to be honest, not many things really scare me."

Kíli smiled. And then they were distracted by Thorin's voice. "Very well." He said as Bilbo tried to protest. "We will do it your way." The king looked to Balin. "Give him the contract."

None of the contract heard the rest of the conversation as it was mostly Bilbo muttering to himself and voicing his unhappiness at the words _'funeral arrangements'_.

The only thing that they _did _hear was when he read the possible outcomes of the journey. "Lacerations? . . . Eviscerations? . . . _Incineration!?" _He asked, as if asking if they were serious.

"Oh, aye." Bofur said. "He'll melt the flesh off yer bones in the blink of an eye." Bilbo swallowed hard and suddenly found that the contract was heavy in his hands. "Think furnace with wings." Tupyn glanced to Bilbo with a concerned frown on her face. "Flash o' light, searing pain and then _poof! _Yer nothing more than a pile of ash." It wasn't just Bilbo that was effected by this image, everyone around the table seemed to suddenly tense up.

Bilbo was breathing heavily for the umpteenth time that evening and attempted to compose himself. He sighed and everyone seemed to think that he was alright for a moment as he moved into the middle of the hallway.

"Nope." He said before passing out and falling to the floor.

Everyone just started for a moment and wondered what on earth they were supposed to do now. "Well." Fíli said.

"That answers that." His brother finished his sentence.

Tupyn had decided to check on Bilbo, she thought that maybe she could persuade him to go on the quest. She knew it was a long shot but maybe she could make him realise that he wasn't so different from the rest of them. She passed Thorin and Balin in the hall and suddenly the king's hand was on her chest as she tried to pass him.

She really didn't want to talk about the letter to him; not yet anyway. She looked up to meet his light blue eyes and opened her mouth to protest against him so much as uttering anything about the letter. Instead, she was cut of by a small vial of liquid being held before her face. She frowned and didn't take it, merely looking back up to him, asking for an explanation.

"It'll help you sleep tonight. You won't get much without it." He insisted, voice low and persuading.

She swallowed and sighed. He knew what she was going to start going through and how she was going to start feeling, he had at least a little understanding. She took the vial and nodded her thanks. "Put it in a drink, it's not the most pleasant thing on its own." She gave another nod and started to move away.

She sighed and licked her lower lip in thought. She appreciated Thorin and how much care he'd taken of her over the years, as she'd said to Kíli before, the king was the closest thing she had to a father she's had for over a decade.

She slipped down the corridor and Gandalf moved out of the front room and down the hall. He didn't exactly look like the happiest of people. Tupyn leant against the wall for a moment before deciding that she should give it a shot.

Bilbo hadn't expected her to be there and found that he jumped when her figure passed him to pull a chair up opposite him. "Do you mind?" She asked.

He sighed and gave her a gesture that she had his permission. She sat but didn't say anything for night on five minutes. She watched Bilbo instead. He had an unsure air about him now, like he felt as though he _could _be an adventurer; like he _could _go with the company.

"Why don't you want to come?" She asked, simply deciding to answer the question that everyone else danced around. Bilbo was shocked by the sudden question and he couldn't seem to get everything together to properly reply.

"Actually," She said. "You don't have to worry about answering that." She sat back and thought for a moment. "I have just found out that my mother's dead."

Bilbo looked up and just stared. "Oh – Oh, I'm sor-"

"No." She cut him off. "Don't say you're sorry. I don't think I'm quite ready for people to say that yet, partly because it's not a loss at all. I haven't seen her in over a decade and she left me on a bad note." He was confused with why she was telling him this. "The point I'm trying to make is that I have lived with a hole in my _core_ for years-" She gestured to her centre for exaggeration of her point. "And now that my mother's gone, it's become bigger." She sighed. "I know you have a hole; a missing part of you that you are not quite sure how to fill."

Bilbo looked down and wrung his hands in his lap. "This." He gestured to the dwarves in the home behind him. "Was not what I wanted from life."

She smirked. "But it is, isn't it?" Bilbo just flicked his eyes up to her. "You want this like you've wanted nothing else before in your life. It's a tiny voice in the back of her head just urging you to sign the contract and come with us; not for the glory like the rest of them . . ." She paused. "But simply for the _adventure._"

"Is that why you're here? Adventure?"

She shook her head. "Not quite."

"Then why?"

She sighed and decided that since he was only the second person to know about her mother, he may as well be one of the few that knew about her reasons. "To prove myself, I think." She swallowed. "I'm an Elven – Dwarf; half Elf, half Dwarf. My mother was the Elf and, quite frankly, I hated her for years. So, as if to prove something to my father, I decided to join a ridiculous bunch of dwarves on a quest to reclaim a lost homeland and that's how I'm here. I _hate _my blood, I feel tainted by the Elf because I don't have a proper home. If I do this, I'll be accepted."

"So why are you telling me this?"

She chewed her lip. "Because I think that you are the one who needs to hear it." He frowned. "You need to know that you're not the only one who has doubts about this."

He looked up to her with a look of shock. "Y – You're having second thoughts?"

"Not so much second thoughts so much as an increasing doubt."

"So what are you going to do?"

She'd thought about that question a lot in the last hour or so and now that the Hobbit had asked, she knew the exact answer. "I'm going to stay." She paused. "Because as much as I still feel that I don't need to be here, I know that I _really _do. No matter how much I feel out of place, these men I'm travelling feel the same. They have no home; same as me. They don't know what they're going to do with the rest of their lives; same as me."

Bilbo wrung his hands again and fidgeted slightly. Tupyn didn't wait for a reply before she stood and moved the chair back into its previous position. She stood in the centre of the room for a moment before she bowed her head and made her way out of the room.

She hadn't realised just how much she wanted the Hobbit to join them. She had an odd feeling – a superstition – that something terrible might happen if she didn't come. She felt, truly, like he _needed _to join them.

She chewed her lip and heaved a breath. No sooner had she done that when a low, nigh on inaudible hum started to sound from the room before her. She glanced inside to see the company surrounding the hearth and weaving the low, gentle tune that drifted through her very soul. She recognised it from both her father and Thorin; it was one of the ways that they'd retold the old tales, one of the ways that stories were passed on.

She may have recognised the tune, but she didn't know the words. So she simply decided to make a cup of tea and take the sleeping draught that Thorin had given her. She silently slipped into the kettle and found that there was still a pot of hot water from Bilbo's drink. So she pulled out some tea leaves and made a pot.

The tune was still being sung when she strained the tea and added the clear liquid from the vial and a splash of milk.

She wrapped her hands around the warm ceramic mug and walked on Elven feet to where the dwarves had gathered.

An eerie sort of silence had engulfed the Hobbit's home as the firewood popped and the crickets in the wide grasslands surrounding them sang their own usual tune.

"Where're ye sleeping lads?" Bofur said, looking around,

"Find a clear space and lay down the rolls." Thorin ordered, pointing the end of his pipe to the space around them.

The men started to collect themselves up and move around; they spread into the hallways and into rooms that none of them had even been in before. Tupyn went to move into to the hall to the left but Kíli tugged her plait and made her jump. She turned to him. "And where are you going?" He asked.

She pointed in the direction she'd been walking in. "To a spot that's not taken."

"No you don't." Kíli said, nodding to the opposite direction. "Fíli and I found a place big enough for all three of us."

She frowned. "Why?"

He shrugged. "I don't know." He said as he lead her to where they'd found. "I guess we're used to you now."

She momentarily stuttered on her thoughts for a moment and smiled as he carried on walking. She'd not had time to have anyone 'get used' to her and to have someone say that if she was to disappear, it would affect them was an odd feeling to have.

But a pleasant one nonetheless.

They had found the back room and Fíli was attempting to light the small fire set in the right wall. He let out a sound of rejoice as the spark caught and heated the firewood.

The brothers and Tupyn set their rolls next to each other and lay down. Tupyn took on gulp of the lukewarm tea and cringed at the slightly chemical taste it held from the sleeping draught. After than, she necked it and pulled a disgusted face once she was done.

Fíli scoffed. "What was that?" He asked.

She just shrugged and laid down flat. "Just stronger than I had expected."

It took her longer than normal to get to sleep because once she laid her head down, her thoughts ran rampant through her mind, leaving a trail of disaster in their wake. She'd screwed her eyes shut and tossed and turned for nigh on ten minutes but to no avail.

She hadn't expected it to be as bad as it was proving to be and she realised that Thorin had been right about her not getting to sleep.

She hadn't realised that she had been making as much noise with her movement as she actually had. Her back had been to Kíli and as soon as his hand touched her hip, she found that her entire body relaxed. Under his fingers, she calmed and she didn't even even understand why. "Go to sleep." He whispered in a faux threatening tone, his breath hitting the heated skin on the back of her neck and sending a chill down her spine.

She wasn't entirely sure if it was Kíli's hand and breath or the potion that had been in her tea but either way, she was asleep within minutes after that and the thoughts that had previously ravaged her brain were gone.

* * *

_**Chapter 10! Yay! I must admit that I'm quite chuffed with this one. As much as I got a little bogged down with the dialogue of the film, I'm quite happy with the bits i added. **_

**_What did you think of that little gem of a bomb that her mother dropped? I rather enjoyed writing it so I hoped that you enjoyed reading it._**

**_I'm not going to beg this time but thank you to everyone who reviewed, favoured and followed. I do still want your reviews because it's wonderful to receive them and if you want to drop me a tip on improvement then I'm definitely not going to complain._**

**_Remember to follow me on Tumblr under the same name as here. It's wonderful to have you all reading._**


	11. Chapter 11 - The Sketches

_**Chapter 11 - The Sketches**_

* * *

The company was a mess. The morning had started with the usual birdsong and the dawn colours had illuminated the hobbit hole as if it were a painting that moved every minute, changing from black to purple, purple to pink, pink to orange and – finally – orange to the usual light yellow hue of an early morning. Most of the company had realised that this may be their last sleep indoors and didn't want to wake from it. So when the first – and intended _only _– morning call was sounded, several men merely turned over and moved back into dreams while the others started preparing.

Tupyn scoffed as Bofur ran in front of her, his weapons piled on his arms as he attempted to catch up with the dwarves who _had _woken up when called. She smiled and moved towards the open door. Thorin and Gandalf were stood in the doorway, counting the men that left to tack their ponies.

"Good morning." Tupyn bowed her head and shifted her bag on her back. Thorin nodded and Gandalf repeated the phrase.

"How did you sleep?" The king asked.

She smiled thankfully. "Surprisingly well actually, thank you."

"Good, the first night is usually the hardest. It will get better from here," He promised. "You must tell me if you need anything else."

She nodded that she would and walked out of the door. Gandalf and Thorin stayed where they were and counted her as the fifth member to leave. "Something is wrong." Gandalf said.

Thorin frowned. "Regarding what?"

"Her," He pointed the tip of his pipe to Tupyn as she rounded the edge of the Hobbits garden to walk around the back to where they'd tied the ponies. "Something happened yesterday."

Thorin sighed and figured that the wizard should know. "Her mother died."

Gandalf breathed a little too deep on his pipe and spluttered a breath. "I know that, dear fellow, there's something else that she's not quite prepared to tell anyone yet." Thorin frowned with confusion and looked up to the Wizard, counting Ori and Dori as the sixth and seventh members of the party to leave.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you know _why _her mother was being chased?"

"No. Why? Do you?"

He hummed. "No, but I feel as though it may be one of the many things that Miss Logreig may be hiding about her past and heritage."

His frown deepened. "I know everything about her past and heritage."

He looked down to the king. "Not _everything._"

Thorin was about the ask what on earth he possibly couldn't know but was distracted by his youngest nephew all but hurtling out of the door and his heir's boisterous laugh following after him. The king's arm shot out to catch the brunet by the upper arm so he didn't tumble down the small hill on the front of Mr. Baggins' house.

Kíli looked up to him and the laughter of the blond suddenly stopped as the youngest was pulled to stand before his uncle. Fíli rushed to his brother's aid. "My apologies uncle, it was my fau-"

He was silenced with a stern look and both brothers just looked towards their shoes. They knew that if there was ever any time to get up to mischief, now was definitely _not_ it. Of all things their uncle held dear, Erebor and the quest to reclaim it was possibly the closest to his heart and of all times to mess around, they shouldn't have done it when he was attempting to make sure that their quest got off to a half-decent start.

They stood there for a moment, stewing in their own embarrassment when suddenly; Thorin thumped them both in the centre of their chests with a hearty laugh. They took shocked steps backwards and looked up to their uncle. He ruffled both of their hair and they took synced relieved breaths as the king gestured for them to go on their way.

They smiled and shook their heads at how they couldn't believe they'd fallen for his trick and then made their way down the pathway and onto the track to make their way to the ponies.

"I hate it when he does that." Kíli said.

Fíli merely chuckled. "And no matter how many times he does it, he gets you every time."

The brunet scoffed. "You were the one grovelling for forgiveness."

"Oi!" He elbowed his brother. "I was protecting you, you ninny." He argued. "I was going to take the blame."

"I don't want you to take the blame." He said for the millionth time over his life time. He'd actually lost count how many times he'd told Fíli not to take the blame but deep down – and never showing it – he was grateful for it.

"But I will," The elder brother promised. "Until the end, I'll take the blame. Count it as one of my ways of protecting you."

Kíli scowled. "I don't need protecting."

"Leave off." He exclaimed. "Had it not been for me, you'd be dead by now."

"And had it not been me, you would also be dead." He paused. "If you hadn't been killed, you would have died of boredom." They both chuckled and the ponies came into view so they each moved to their animals. Tupyn had already prepared Foggy and was leaning against his shoulder with a small sketchpad, watching Frankie next to her as he ripped up the grass at his feet. Cooper was the other side, his head dipped slightly and his hind leg resting on the tip of its hoof to show he was asleep. Fíli whistled and the previously sleeping pony's head shot up. Tupyn's head also moved towards them and she smiled, slipping the pad away into her pocket.

She hadn't spoken to Kíli all morning but judging by the smug grin on his face, he knew why she hadn't. She'd enjoyed it the night before with his arm draped over her and his breath on her neck, she'd never have relaxed if he hadn't been there and she'd never have fallen asleep. She briefly recalled how she had needed to slowly unwrap herself from him that morning and how she'd been reluctant to do so.

She smirked and chewed the inside of her cheek in a failed attempt to stop it.

It took a few more minutes for the final members of the company to appear and for Thorin and Gandalf to come and sort out their own animals. They all mounted and Thorin gave the order to move out.

"No Hobbit then." Fíli muttered as Kíli and Tupyn and he pushed their ponies into a walk behind the members of the company who had already set off.

"Sometimes people just need to sleep on things." Tupyn put forward as Foggy snorted and flung his hair back to move his hair from his eyes. She patted his neck and looked to Kíli as he scoffed.

"I highly doubt he'd be that eager to travel with us. He'd have to chase us and – I don't mean to be rude – but he looks as if he hasn't left his home for a proper _'chase' _in quite a few years."

Tupyn sighed. "I don't know." She shrugged. "You'd be surprised what people would do."

The Shire was yet to wake up so they moved almost silently out of Hobbiton and onto the open road.

As they started to make their way through the woodland, Foggy started to tug on the reins. She understood and released the reins, allowing them to go loose around his neck. To be quite honest, Foggy was a bizarre animal. He had odd ways of doing things (much like herself), over rough, uneven ground, he preferred a completely loose rein because he seemed to not like having the movement of his head to be restricted in case he stumbled. It was quite a fair reasoning but it meant that Tupyn just had to sit over land like the one they were travelling on at that moment.

Fíli frowned. "Your pony is really strange."

She scoffed. "Tell me about it."

Their conversation was cut short by Bofur shouting towards them. "What do ye think lads?" He asked.

"About what?" All three of them chorused. After being briefly surprised by them speaking at the same time, they allowed Bofur to explain.

"About Bilbo."

"What about him?" Tupyn asked.

The toymaker rolled his eyes. "Do ye recon he'll show?"

She nodded simply. "Yup." The brothers either side of her arched their brows as Bofur smiled and congratulated her on her faith and then asked her how much she bet. Fíli and Kíli seemed to take this as a challenge and bet to oppose her.

"There's no way he'll show." Kíli said.

And as if on cue, Bilbo's voice sounded behind them in a cry of desperation. "Wait!" They heard him panting as the company came to a stop and the Hobbit ran past them to reach the head.

"Is that-?" Fíli asked.

Tupyn gave a triumphant exclaim and put her hand out to either brother. "Pay up boys."

They groaned in unison and begrudgingly pulled out what they owed, placing the coins into her open palms.

"Get him a pony!" Thorin shouted, leading the company on their way.

Tupyn saw the brother shoot each other a knowing look as the Hobbit protested and was overtaken by the majority of the group. She pulled Foggy back to allow the spare animal to slip into her place so that when Fíli and Kíli gripped the Hobbit by the shoulders, they could easily force him onto its back.

Bilbo ended up next to Tupyn as the brothers pushed Frankie and Cooper into a faster walk so that they could catch up with the men in front.

Tupyn watched as Bilbo held the reins wrong and struggled to get his feet into the stirrups and quite simply gave the pony beneath him the complete wrong messages. She could feel the pony getting more and more agitated and after a minute, simply decided to intervene.

"Look," She said, shifting her ankle into Foggy's side to move him forward and closer to Bilbo so that she could grab his pony's nostril and pull his head round, the pair of them still gently plodding their way along. She slipped her feet out of the stirrups and spun in the saddle to face him. She slipped her spare hand over the star on the pony's brow and gave a gentle 'shush'. His eyes fluttered closed briefly and when they opened, his demeanour had changed.

A calm horse was much easier to learn to ride on than a frustrated one.

She glanced up the Bilbo and Foggy slowed as he felt a small shift backwards in her weight. She grabbed the reins to Bilbo's pony and pulled them tight to show him how to hold them. "Like this." She displayed and he copied when she handed them to him. "Good. Now try and get your feet in the stirrups."

He looked at her like she'd started speaking Khuzdul. She rolled her eyes and pointed to the metal on the end of the stirrup leather. "That. Try and put your foot in it."

Bilbo obeyed and smiled when he managed to do it.

"You have to move with the pony," She tipped. "Don't fight him. If he decided he doesn't want you on his back, then he'll buck you off so _don't_ fight. He might stop at the verge and try and get some grass, you can pull him away from that because he'll keep doing it if he thinks he can get away from it…" She spent the next few minutes explaining the basic dos and don'ts of riding. The Hobbit listened intently and, when she was finished, he smiled. "You seem to know a lot about ponies."

She chuckled. "I have a fair amount of experience. It's in my blood too."

"Your blood?"

She hummed. "My mother was a tamer; she had a bond with animals and my father was an adept tracker."

"So you're a tamer _and _a tracker by blood?" The hobbit asked. She thought that the Hobbit would have been naïve of the world due to his want to stay indoors but it seemed that even then, stories and tales didn't fail to reach sheltered ears. She smiled and nodded.

"You've heard tell of us?"

"I've met men and women who have seen others like you do unbelievably things with animals and read the earth as easily as I could read a book."

Her smiled widened. "That sounds about right."

"From what I've just seen, I have no doubt about that."

Gandalf slipped into place beside Bilbo and Tupyn nodded to him before squeezing her knees and pushing Foggy into a quick canter to catch up with the Durin brothers.

They spent the rest of the day travelling. Tupyn had spent a lot of time travelling and even she was sometimes stupefied by world around them. She knew that there would likely be many points where she'd be completely sick of boundless fields or never ending rock faces but while she could, she decided she was going to enjoy the world around her.

Her and the brothers spent their time talking amongst each other and messing around. She didn't tell them about the letter. They didn't need to know was quite simply the reason why; they didn't need to feel sorry of tread on eggshells around her. She wasn't entirely sure she could deal with that.

"We should stop now." Thorin ordered later on in the day, as the day reached its end. "Night is drawing in."

They stopped beneath a shelter of overhanging trees and stuck as close to the trucks as possible to stop as much of the rain - that had started to fall - as possible.

Fíli and Kíli decided that then was the time to treat the company to the rabbit they'd caught a few days before. They had skinned them and cured them so they were by no means fresh but they would still be edible.

Before long, a lovely rabbit stew was bubbling away over the fire; rumbling the stomachs and wetting the mouths of the company around.

Tupyn took advantage of their distraction and decided that she was going to find the stream which she knew meandered it's was through the nearby land.

The company would likely not bother themselves with cleanliness but Tupyn had always maintained a routine that kept her vaguely clean. She wasn't about to accidentally run into someone on the road and smell like the rest of them.

She didn't tell anyone where she was going but she had a feeling that Gandalf knew that the stream was nearby and that she'd want to go.

It was no more than seven minutes away and she found that the stream flowed into a small pool that was about as deep as she was tall. The soft moonlight was penetrating the water and hitting the light rocks below, making the pool glow slightly as they reflected.

She bent and dipped the tips of her fingers into the water to test it. It was cool and she felt herself smile as she stood and started to strip down. She folded each garment and placed her wash bag atop them near the bank. She lowered herself into the water and relished in the chill against her skin. She pulled the tie from her hair and released her curls before submerging herself in the water.

When she broke the surface once more, she relaxed against the bank, closing her eyes gently and relaxing under the waters touch. When she found that she was imagining that Kíli was there with her, she opened her eyes to dismiss the thoughts before she could think about his touch or his breath or his lips.

She sighed and distracted herself with the familiar weight around her neck. Her fingers moved to cradle the multicoloured gem and observe it once more. It was an odd item; it could be so important and it held unknown power but it held more sentimental value to her than the value it bought by being desirable. She hid it beneath her clothes in fear that someone might recognised it and even though she knew that it could never leave her neck, she continued to check it was still there.

She spent a few minutes more observing it in the moonlight and then decided that she needed to do something. She knew that despite how refreshing the water was, she couldn't stay for long else her bones would catch a chill and she'd never get warm. So she pulled a bar of soap from her wash bag and quickly rubbed the lavender scent over her body.

She ran some of it through her hair and submerged herself once more. She brushed out any knots in her hair while under, helping to run the shampoo out. She moved to the side and took a sweeping look of the woodland around to check nobody was watching before she lifted herself out of the water and sitting on the grassy bank. She grabbed a small cloth to dry her skin and then started to dress.

She dressed completely and merely draped her coat over her shoulders, holding it at the front with her hand inside. While it was wet, she could do nothing with her hair except towel dry it and leave it in its dam mess around her shoulders. She didn't put her boots on either, if her feet were wet then they could make the inside lining of the leather damp and that would cause havoc later on down the line so she held them and made her way back to the company.

She arrived to find a bowl of stew waiting for her besides Kíli. A few eyes noticed her arrival at they lounged against the trunks of the trees that were around the small fire they'd been able to light. Kíli looked to her, a smile lingering on his lips from something that Fíli had said and it slowly slipped away to leave a slight gape as she moved over. She sat and his eyes were still on her as she dug into the stew. "Have you bathed?" He asked, suddenly wondering why on earth her hair was wet. She nodded and hummed her confirmation as she chewed on a piece of rabbit meat.

"Where?"

She swallowed her food. "There's a pool not ten minutes away." She gestured the general direction and took another mouthful.

They sat in silence for a moment before he shifted. "You must be freezing." He said, slipping his arm around her waist from behind so that it was hidden as he pulled her closer, sharing his heat with her. She didn't admit that she _was_ cold; she simply moved into him and hoped that maybe the stew would help.

His hand started to gently stroke her hip and when she was done with the stew, she placed the bowl and spoon to the side before leaning her head against his shoulder and allowing herself to drift to sleep.

* * *

"What's that?" Tupyn asked, slowing Foggy from the canter she'd pushed him into to catch up with Ori. The scribe jumped and hid his small pad under his arm.

The group had started moving again that morning and Thorin had mentioned something about a ridge that they would come to where they would stop for the night.

Tupyn noticed Ori's bashfulness and smirked, pulling her own leather bound book from her jacket pocket. "I'll show you mine if you show me yours." She suggested. She glanced over to Dori who was the opposite side of Ori and smiled. He grumbled slightly and just looked ahead. She gave a single chuckle that seemed to say _'fine, if that's how you're going to be'_ and then looked back to Ori.

The young dwarf tentatively closed his book and handed it to her as she held her own out.

Inside hers, Ori found drawings; dozens of them. There were drawings of hands and drawings of people, a mother holding a child and analyses of clothes and various items of jewellery. But mostly there were animals; a pony grazing in a field, the silhouettes of hundreds of different birds with small notes on recognising them, dogs and cats and the occasional wolf, fox or badger. Rabbits and deer appeared frequently along with squirrels, hedgehogs and boars. Ori was not only in awe at the drawings but at the meticulous notes that were added on the side on how, and in what way, one could gain the trust of the animals. She may have been a tamer, but he understood from the notes that every animal was different; she couldn't just expect each animal to trust her, she had to act and show them that she could be trusted.

He smiled and observed a drawing of - what must have been - a huge stag grazing in streams of light that slipped past a canopy of leaves. He looked to find her flicking through his own book to find pages and pages of scrawled handwriting, marking every detail of moments that were now behind them; documenting and preserving each precious second on the page.

She smiled at how surprisingly neat his handwriting was and at how detailed his words were before she gently closed it and waited for him to do the same with hers. He did so. "They're very good." He complimented honestly.

She smiled. "And your writing is lovely."

"Thank you." He bowed his head and was about to continue when their leader spoke up from the front.

"Night is close, we should stop now." They had come to the ridge he had spoken of before and there was a mutter of approval over the company as they stopped the ponies and stared to dismount. The night had drawn in fast and they quickly organised the watches so that people could sort out their bedrolls and get to sleep.

Any further conversation with Ori was halted by Thorin's sudden voice. "Tupyn," His tone made the young woman jump and startle Foggy next to her. She calmed him quickly and turned to the king. "Come with me. We are to check the area." He stalked off without another word. She just stared for a moment and then glanced to Fíli as he spoke. "Sounds like you're in trouble."

She sighed and just thrust Foggy's reins into Fíli's hands so he could peg the pony down. She tried to think about what Thorin could want to talk to her about and followed despite the nervous clenches in her stomach.

The walk to catch up with him was much less like an area check and much more like a nervous girl chasing after a rather angry man.

After a moment, she decided to call out to him and he turned. His face was blank; completely and utterly emotionless. "I have questions." He said.

"Well don't think you're the only one." She said, quite frustrated with him leading her away to tell her to spill her secrets.

"Do they know?"

She frowned. "Who? Know what?"

"_Fíli and Kíli . . . _do they know about your mother."

_"My mother again?!"_ She groaned, throwing her arms up in the air and completely disregarding the point of his nephews in the question.

"Yes, Tupyn!" Thorin took several intimidating steps towards her. "We _are _going to talk about her, whether you would appreciate the conversation or not." She rolled her eyes, ignoring the pain in her core that was threatening to turn to sadness and eventually turn her into an emotional wreck. "But first I must know whether or not my nephews know."

Tupyn didn't want to talk. She didn't want to talk to anyone about _anything_; she had an overwhelming need to be alone. "No!" She forced after a while. "They don't know." She'd started to pace and Thorin could see her trying to calm herself down. He strode forward and took her upper arms in his strong grip to stop her from fidgeting.

"Stop!" He ordered. "Look at me!" She did so and found that she was looking at him through bleary eyes, her nostrils flaring with raged breaths.

"Why?" She found herself asking desperately. "Why would she just give up?" It was the question she'd been scared to ask; the question she knew would show she cared. She didn't want to care about her mother, the woman had abandoned her at her time of need; cast her aside when she'd needed her arms more than anything else in the world.

Sympathy knitted Thorin's brow as he looked down to her. He looked almost guilty about the words he was going to say and for a brief moment, it made Tupyn not want to hear them. "I'm not entirely sure she did." Initially, he'd not wanted to say anything about the inkling her had that maybe Cedia wasn't dead, but watching her daughter crumble before his eyes was not something he was willing to stand by and watch.

She released a confused, ragged breath. "What? You don't believe she's dead?"

"No," He confessed. "I think that _you _are going to believe that she'd dead because you're scared that if – perchance – she really _is _dead, it might be the final step you take to breaking. _I _believe that your mother was a strong and surprisingly _persuasive _woman and I doubt that she would be unable to handle this situation."

Tupyn stuttered on her words. After the second attempt of speaking, she sighed and swallowed. "But the letter. She told me-"

"She's not going to want you to be optimistic just in case she _was_ unable handle it." He cut off her argument.

Her confusion had turned into rage again and she moved away from him, pulling his grip from around her arms. "So she's _protecting me_?!" She shouted, outraged at the idea. "Protecting me by making me _mourn?!_"

"No, Tupyn! She's protecting you by preparing you for the worst!"

Tupyn stopped, her limbs shaking in anger. Her mother wasn't allowed to protect her! She'd given up her right to do that when she'd given up her right to be her parent. No matter how much she thought she'd forgiven her, she couldn't deal with the truth.

After a minute, she simply had one question. "Why?" she asked. "Why did she suddenly care?"

Thorin sighed. "Because despite what you seem to think, she always loved you."

She groaned. "But I don't want her love! I did once and she threw it away. Her own maternal love was swept away with a single goodbye!"

"So why are you getting so worked up about her death? If you don't care?"

Tupyn looked up to him and after a brief moment of just trying to keep contact with his intimidating gaze, she gave up and sighed. She perched herself on a nearby rock and held her head in her hands. "I don't know." She admitted. "Maybe because I'm a liar or I'm just denying everything." She looked up and found that he'd sat himself next to her. "I just don't know."

He smiled reassuringly. "And that's fine. You do not have to be sure of anything." They just sat for a while in silence. His presence was nice; calming, He was strong not only in his will and his posture, but in his entire air and she couldn't help but be comforted by it.

It was a while before Thorin spoke up again.

"I've seen your looks towards my youngest nephew."

Tupyn's eyes widened and she tensed. She hadn't planned for him to find out at all, let alone this soon. She looked up to his accusatory gaze and tried to form any kind of coherent sentence. She failed miserably as she tumbled over her words and simply pushed her forehead into her hands again.

Thorin didn't speak initially. He heaved a few breaths before finally deciding to say something. "Right, it's going to work like this." She looked up with guilty eyes as Thorin laid down the guidelines. "My nephews have already incorporated you into the group; I have no doubt about that, so I know that you shan't get in the way. Quite frankly, Kíli would be lucky to catch a dwarf half as good and decent as you." She felt heat rise in her cheeks. "_However_, if you _do_ become a distraction, I'll have no option but to ban you from each other, at least for the course of the journey." She nodded quickly, eager to show her understanding.

"I have no intention of letting it get to a point where anything remotely similar to that would have to happen."

He smiled. "Good. I trust that you won't." He stood and looked down to her. "But if it does, and goes beyond that . . ." She wondered what could possibly worse than banning them being together and soon got her answer. " . . . I shan't hesitate to send you home and see to it that you don't see each other, even when this quest is over."

That was harsh, way harsher than she had expected but all she could do was nod and watch him as he walked back towards the camp. She hadn't known Kíli long but the idea of never seeing him again left her uneasy in the stomach. She couldn't be alone again, there was potential for her to find a home with these dwarves and she wasn't about

* * *

_**Sorry it's been a while but schools been a bitch. We had mocks and then we went through the mocks and then we had parents evening and then we had reports. The results were decent but I could do better so revision starts on Monday. I've also been nursing an annoyingly serious cold. Lets just say that I take after my dad who once fell off of a motorbike and broke his collarbone but just picked up his bike and walked the 5 mile journey home. So if I think that this is bad then I'm pretty much dying. (The joy just continues)**_

_**On a lighter note, the views on this are just a few hundred away from my Being human fic that's been up for almost a year so I can congratulate you on that. I've also been quite chuffed with the reviews so thank you to everyone who's reviewed. I seriously need as many as I can get, my productivity has slowed a little bit and reviews are what honestly help me continue. (I've got a half-term break coming up now so lot's of free time! But weather I actually work on this or the Musketeers fic I'm working on is another story (you also have competition from an original work I started a few weeks ago so if you want more chapters, I'm going to need your reviews.))**_

**_Thanks for reading, it's brilliant to know people actually want to read this._**


	12. Chapter 12 - The Truth

_**Chapter 12 – The Truth**_

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She had moved back to the camp to have weary eyes on her. They all knew that the leader had had a serious conversation with her about something though none of them (not even Fíli and Kíli) were willing to ask what the subject had been. So she'd simply rolled out her bedroll and forced herself into sleep.

Fíli and Kíli had gotten the midnight watch and – considering that she had fallen asleep close to them – their quiet conversation woke Tupyn up about half way through. She sighed as she rolled over. "Do you have to talk?" She asked rhetorically, understanding how boring the watch was and how much of a godsend a companion could be.

"Talking? Us?" Fíli asked sarcastically.

She hummed and closed her eyes to only jump out of her skin when the sound of a whetstone against a blade was directly in her ear. She stifled a yelp and shot up, completely awake with not so much as a shred or drowsiness left in her system. She sighed and stood. "Well now that I'm awake, you can move up so I can sit between yous."

Kíli looked up for the first time and shuffled closer to Fíli but forward so that she could sit behind him and next to his brother. Tupyn frowned at how complicated he'd made it but obeyed anyway, chuckling as he lent back with his head on the ankles of her crossed legs. His hair splayed in her lap and she took the chance to braid his hair again.

His brother went back to toying with his knife and Kíli's eyes stayed on her face as she watched the braid.

Her emerald eyes flicked to his for a moment before going back down the braid. She tried to act like him watching her didn't make her insides twist and turn with giddiness. "Yes?" She tried to say nonchalantly.

He smirked. "Just looking."

She gave a single, breath of a laugh. "I'm sure you are." Her attention moved from his eyes to Bilbo, who had stood and moved over to the ponies. "Our burglar seems restless."

Kíli frowned. "I didn't hear him." He looked to the Hobbit and gave a laugh of surprise.

"That's because you're concentrating on her." Fíli said, slapping his brother's shoulder. "You're meant to be watching the camp not her face."

Tupyn choked on nothing at his comment and broke down into quiet immature giggles, hiding her face in Kíli's hair in an odd mix of embarrassment and the knowledge that she shouldn't be laughing.

There was a sudden, vicious cry from somewhere way across the lands and the trio's heads shot up to scour them. Orcs, of all horrific creatures in their world, were the ones that quite simply made Tupyn's blood run cold. She had seen their ferocity first hand and she hated the memories now more than ever. She had developed quite a substantial amount of pride over the years and thinking of herself as she wept over mangled bodies was not something she enjoyed. She had been forced to abandon the bodies in the place where they were hacked down for her own safety and she wasn't proud of that either.

She was removed from the horrible memories by Kíli feeling her hands falter in his hair. He looked back up to her and gently touched her wrist. "Tupyn?" He asked. "Are you alright?" She swallowed and found that she couldn't meet his eyes. She nodded quickly, hoping to dismiss his worry. He sat up and turned to face her, moving his touch from her wrist – that was now resting guiltily in her lap – and onto her knee. He knew she was lying. The cry of the Orcs had made her the furthest thing from alright. He was about to press her further but was distracted by Bilbo rushing over. "What was that?" The Hobbit asked, torn between shouting his fright and not wanting to wake any of the company.

As concerned as he was about Tupyn, Kíli couldn't miss the chance to scare Bilbo a little. "Orcs." He let a slither of fear slip into his tone and he felt Tupyn punch his shoulder as a tell for him not to frighten the poor man further. Instead, he simply picked up his knife as Fíli picked up his pipe.

"_Orcs?" _He repeated, jolting slightly at the word.

Fíli hummed. "Throat cutters." Tupyn scowled at him but he paid no heed. "There'll be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them."

She went to tell him to stop as she felt her stomach start to turn with gruesome memories but every time she went to control one brother, the other carried on. "They strike in the wee small hours when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet; no screams. Just lots of blood."

She gripped both of their arms and they each gasped in a small breath. "You know not of what you speak!" She scolded quietly. "I do not car-"

"You think that's funny?!" Thorin's voice was much more authoritative than hers had been but much less threatening. "You think that a night raid by Orcs is a joke?" There was no way that Thorin expected an answer to that question. No one in their right mind would answer yes and not even the keenest mind could come up with an excuse to saying no and having reason for still joking.

She released both boys' arms when Thorin gave her a reassuring glance. She slumped back against the rock face, quite simply annoyed at the brothers for ignoring her.

"We didn't mean anything by it." Kíli said quietly, looking to the knife in his lap.

"No, you didn't." Thorin continued as he moved to the edge of the ridge to glance over the lands below. "You know nothing of the world."

Tupyn softened slightly as she watched Kíli slump and sigh guiltily. She found that she could no longer be angry at him and shuffled forward to run her hands over his middle to hug him from behind. She rested her forehead against his shoulder and felt his hand slip over hers on his stomach.

When Balin spoke, she looked up as he did at his reassuring words. "Don't mind him, laddie. Thorin has more cause than most . . ." She didn't miss his glance at her with the word 'most' and she looked away for fear of more memories bubbling to the surface. ". . . To hate Orcs."

She'd heard the story a multitude of times and simply went back to resting her head on Kíli's shoulder. She thought that maybe the youngest Durin hadn't heard the tale as he listened as intently as someone who was hearing it for the first time, maybe he'd simply never heard it from Balin. People have different ways of weaving tales anyhow.

To be quite honest, she'd only heard it from Thorin once and that was when she'd needed the comfort of someone who knew exactly how she felt. The way Balin told it was different; he made it sound much more bittersweet. Thorin just made it bitter.

There was only one line that truly got Tupyn's attention. "The line of Durin would not be so easily broken." Kíli straightened his back slightly and his hand squeezed hers a little tighter. She smiled against his coat. He may have been the third in line for the throne of Erebor but he never forgot his ancestry and she suddenly found the irony in how she'd started to fall for him; she wanted nothing more than to forget part of her lineage and he never ever wanted to forget his.

The dwarves had started to stand in respect for their king and Tupyn found herself humbled by how much respect the company had for Thorin.

"We few had survived," Continued Balin as Tupyn and the brothers stood with the last of the quest-goers. "And I thought to myself then . . . there is one who I could follow; there is one who I could call king."

Thorin turned to find his faithful company stood in respect. It was more than just a notion of faith and respect though, it was a promise; a promise that they would follow him into anything; they would follow him into the equivalent of the battle of Azanulbizar and would always stand beside him no matter what.

"And the Pale Orc?" Bilbo asked. "What happened to him?"

Balin opened his mouth to speak as the dwarves started to sit back down but he was cut off by Thorin. "He slunk back into the hole whence he came. That _filth_ died of his wounds long ago."

Fíli, Kíli and Tupyn sat back in the positions they had been in before as the sound of snoring once again started to fill the air. Kíli's head was resting in her lap again but now she was just stroking his hair. He didn't speak and Tupyn knew that something was wrong.

The air around the camp became still once more other than the occasional hoot of an owl and the song of crickets. Tupyn took advantage of it and placed her head against the rock behind.

"Tupyn?" Kíli asked, tentatively after a while, shifting slightly. "What happened to your father and brothers?"

The question made her hand stop in his hair and her thoughts stop in her mind. There was no way to avoid telling them, she knew that, but she still didn't particularly want to. She heaved a breath and cut a lot of the story short. "In much the same way it took your great grandfather." She paused. "Only, it wasn't a great battle, it was an ambush and it was done through no twisted need to wipe out a line, it was a simple need to slaughter."

Silence surrounded them for a while and Fíli placed his pipe down with a frown knitting his brow. "So it was Orcs?"

She nodded, unable to make eyes contact with him lest he realise that once forced away memories were now paying in her minds eye. Memories of watching her family be slaughtered as she shot arrows from the safe perch of a tree, memories of watching each one of them get hacked down, memories of cradling her youngest brothers head as his life left him a little more with each blood-filled gasp and sigh of breath.

"And that's when you went to Thorin?" Fíli asked.

She nodded again as she remembered showing up on the doorstep of Thorin's sisters house, covered in the blood of her kin and stunned by the images that were replaying in her head.

There was no denying that she didn't like to talk about it, but who in their right mind would? It had been many years and she'd had time to think all possible thoughts she could, the guilt she felt for living no longer tortured her but still the blood plagued her dreams.

Kíli noticed how much it affected her and sat up, turning around and pulling her into a firm hug. She paused for a moment before hugging him back, gripping his jacket and willing him not to let go. If he could see her face, he would have been shocked by the blankness of it; there was no emotion whatsoever. He probably wouldn't have understood that it was a method for hiding her feelings; he wouldn't have understood that by making her outsides blank, she made her insides blank; flushing the memories from her system along with the lingering guilt and the vague sickness that was stuck in her stomach.

She felt Fíli's hand rub her back twice comfortingly before he sat back and left her with his brother. They were pulled away a few minutes later by Bofur telling them that since he was awake, he'd start his watch early and they could go to sleep.

Kíli pulled away, rubbing her arm and she forced a smile before they all stood and made their way away from the fire and towards their bags to set out their rolls. When that was done, they lay down and once more Tupyn was comforted by Kíli's presence next to her. His hand moved to hers and she couldn't help but roll over and curl into him.

They woke up the next morning to find dark clouds slipping in from the north and by midday they'd bought a horrific downpour upon them. Tupyn was left leaning on her knees with Foggy's reins not in her hands as the pony tried to make his way over the soggy woodland path underfoot.

The rain battered their heads beneath their hoods and soaked their clothes. But Tupyn liked it. She'd always liked the rain, she usually found it soothing (although there were odd occasions when rain just added to rotten weather) and quite refreshing. She pushed her head back and opened her mouth, taking in the heavy drops and smiling when she swallowed them, glancing to Kíli who smirked at her behaviour and whose spirit was lifted by it.

But the rest of the company was constantly grovelling about the weather so when Tupyn spotted a huge crow to her right, she also spotted her chance to cheer the rest of up.

She cupped her hands around her mouth and summoned the bird. Fíli and Kíli drowned at her as she raised her hand to the bird who hopped a few times before lifting himself towards the sky and heaving himself over to her outstretched hand.

"Whoa." The brothers chorused, moving away from the sound of air being forced out of the way as the crow clutched at her hand. Tupyn simply smiled and then looked back to the crow. The creature stared back at her with ink black eyes and cawed in her face. She chuckled and scratched his crest. "Yes, I know. You don't like being called. Sorry."

She looked him in the eyes and gave him his orders, ignoring the pain of its talons ripping into her already scarred hands from the hundreds of other birds that had gripped there as a perch.

The crow gave another long screech of annoyance and pushed himself into flight.

"And what was that?" Kíli asked, watching the crow disappear.

"Just another trick I've picked up."

"You seem to have lots of tricks." Fíli half-accused.

Kíli hummed his agreement. "Where did you learn them all?"

She shifted in the saddle. "I . . ." She pondered the right word for a while. "_Travelled _for a while. The majority of them are just trial and error. By following animals you learn their mating and migration habits. You learn which ones help the others; which ones follow, which behaviours spark others in different animals. It's –" She shrugged. "It's experience really." She felt a lot calmer about sharing information with them now that they knew about her father and brothers. She would spill everything (unless they asked the right questions) and she still had secrets but she was more comfortable now.

Within minutes, the crow had returned and flown back overhead before disappearing on the opposite side. "Here we go." She said, pointing to a small flash of white in the clearing ahead.

The brothers watched as from the clearing emerged a snow-white fox. It was small and lithe and hopped onto the path with a high-pitched screech that was not dissimilar to a baby's cry.

The company stopped for a moment as the creature stared at them with dark brown eyes.

Tupyn smiled as Oin gave a hark. "The Ivory Fox. 'Tis another good sign." The previously glum company voiced their happiness at the positive sign, their ponies shifting at the sounds and causing a rather unruly line to be formed of the once relatively straight one.

Thorin frowned and turned to Oin. "We follow it then?"

"Aye." He called back. "The foxes are known for bein' wise and leading the way, ye'd be a fool not to." That gave Thorin enough reason to give the order and follow the animal.

"Did you call that?" Kíli asked in a hushed tone.

Tupyn just smiled and tapped the side of her nose. But the fox turned and looked her directly in the eye, bowing its head low and receiving a small signal of respect in return, from that there was no denying that the company's cheery mood was thanks to her.

They followed the fox until he lead them to a ruined farmhouse. Thorin nodded his thanks to the animal and Tupyn gave a squeak of a call to get its attention while Thorin gave orders that they would remain there for the night. "Fíli, Kíli! Look after the ponies. Make sure you stay with them."

The fox passed the rest of the company and looked up to her while she was still on Foggy's back. She patted her lap and the animal looked around for a moment before leaping up and rubbing against her stomach. She scratched beneath his chin and clicked her tongue a few times, enticing another yelp-like sound from the creature.

He was as beautiful as always. She'd passed him several times on her travels and knew that he was nearby at such a time of year. He had wiry but well-kept fur that went soft behind his ears and his eyes were a wonderful dark oak brown.

"And I thought the dog had been impressive." Kíli said, watching her reunite the fox.

She looked over to him and smirked, giving the fox a final stroke over the head and down his back before pulling another squeak through her teeth and urging him down.

The members of the company - who had seen her interact with the fox - watched as he slipped off into the woods to their left. The majority of them hadn't seen her display her skills before and, if they didn't trust Thorin enough to believe what she could do, they definitely did now.

The little attention she had gained was suddenly moved to Gandalf as he stormed through the group.

"Everything alright? Gandalf? Where are you going?" Called Bilbo.

"To seek the company of the only one around here who has any sense." He replied bitterly.

"And who's that?"

"Myself! Master Baggins. I've had enough of dwarves for one day." Tupyn cast a glance to Thorin who seemed unfazed by Gandalf's strop. His gaze met hers and his expression didn't change before he looked away.

She hated when he did that. His shell truly was impenetrable and it infuriated her how easily he managed to slip in on. She understood completely _why _he did it since she could just as easily do it. But she was not like Thorin, she didn't want to block her feelings, she felt that it was much easier to let _some_ people in that to burden her entire being on herself.

"C'mon Bombur. We're hungry."

Tupyn frowned as she pushed aside the thoughts and wondered whatever could have been said to get Gandalf in such a mood.

"We should probably go." Kíli said to his brother, acknowledging their uncles orders to look after the ponies.

Fíli nodded, knowing that Thorin would likely be irritable after whatever had been said. Tupyn dismounted and moved to Foggy's head, intending to ask someone around if she could do anything to help while the brothers looked after the ponies.

"Oi!" Kíli's voice said and he head shot around to look. He gestured towards himself. "C'mon, you're the animal expert. You're here for a reason, you know."

She'd had no idea that one of the conditions of her going on the quest was that she could look after the ponies but she wasn't about to complain. She looked around and noted that everyone had dismounted and removed their bags. Tupyn placed her thumb and her forefinger between her lips and blew a sharp whistle.

All of the ponies looked up but Foggy, Cooper and Frankie knew that the specific whistle she'd sounded meant for them to move. So as the three ponies she'd trained started to plod their way towards Fíli and Kíli, the rest followed. Tupyn gestured for the brothers to lead the way and they did so, taking the line of ponies into the woods to the right.

She followed as the rest of the dwarves went about their business.

They spent the next few minutes marking out an effective pen for the ponies to make sure none wandered off.

"I'm going to check the area." Fíli said as he threw the final log down. Kíli and Tupyn nodded as the older brother disappeared in the shadow of the trees.

No sooner had he gone did Kíli descend upon Tupyn, his hands going immediately to her hips and his lips resting gently against her neck. "Kíli." She warned, attempting to ignore the feeling that he provoked with his movements. "No." She pulled her hips away from his grip and turned to him.

Kíli sighed. "Why not?" He moaned. "No one will see."

"Your brother will be back any minute." She reminded.

"He doesn't care."

She scoffed. "It seems very much like he cares."

"That's because you don't know him." She groaned and Kíli just smiled. "I don't even know why we're having this conversation. I was only going to recommend that we practice your aim now."

Tupyn eyes him up sceptically. She had no doubt that, had she allowed him, Kíli wouldn't have taken things further than just touching. But if he was going to offer to help her archery skills then she wasn't going to complain. "Really?"

"Mmm-Hmm." She still didn't believe him but she pulled her bow from over her torso anyway, ignoring the proud-of-himself smile that Kíli took up.

"Right," He said, stepping closer. "I want you to aim at that tree." He moved behind her and pointed to the tree through her line of vision. "You're going to release all of your arrows and we'll see how many hit. I want at least seven of the thirteen."

Tupyn's eyes widened. There was no way she was every going to get it that many times. But nevertheless, she took a breath and started.

A moment later, the thirteenth arrow had been fired. Five had hit the tree.

She groaned. "I told you I can't do it."

"It's not that you can't. You just told yourself you wouldn't so didn't." Tupyn frowned at his reply as he stepped forward and pulled two arrows from the mud at their feet. "Now," He said as he placed one arrow in her quiver and one out before her. "I want you to do these two slowly. I'll instruct you through it."

His hands went to her hips as she took up the stance and one slipped up her bodice to rest on her stomach. "Right, I'll ground you so your body won't move as you reach back. Just take it slowly." She knocked the arrow onto the bow and drew back as she drew in a breath. His presence behind her was comforting and she found that he really had steadied her. She prided herself on her balance but until this point, she hadn't realised just how much it could be improved. She made a mental note to work on it.

"Slowly." Kíli reminded her. His breath brushing her ear and calming her even further.

Without thinking again, she fired the first arrow, reached back and knocked and fired the second.

She breathed again and looked up to see that there were now seven arrows in the tree. She smiled and looked back to Kíli with a small, breathy laugh.

Kíli looked at her with pride but found that now that she was close, he couldn't stop looking at her lips. The hand on her stomach started to slowly move up her side until it finally came to rest on her jaw.

She looked cautious as she realised what he was going to do but she was always cautious. She needed some adventure back in her life.

He pulled her in and pressed his lips to hers.

His stubble caught her chin and cheeks and made the soft feel of his lips even better. The hand that wasn't holding her bow went up to grip his wrist, urging him not to move.

So he didn't and they stayed there.

She didn't want him to move. She'd been alone for so long and even travelling with the company hadn't put her soul to rest. Now she felt the calm creeping in and the only way to truly be happy was with him.

It was an odd thought - so long being alone and one single dwarf could do what so many had attempted to do without even trying. It seemed effortless to him, just by existing, her consoled her, he made her believe that things could get better.

The kiss didn't progress any further that the simple connection of their lips but it was enough. When they actually pulled away, they were each panting slightly. Tupyn smiled as his forehead touched hers. "Well that was unexpected." She said, enticing a chuckle from his lips as she turned and they hugged.

After a moment, Tupyn spoke. "So this is it?" Kíli pulled back to look her in the eyes. "We're going to do this?" She continued. Kíli smiled and nodded.

"If you want to?"

Tupyn looked down and chewed on her bottom lip for a moment and then smiled. "Yeah, I do."

Kíli grinned and placed a short kiss against her lips again. She smirked as she felt the blush rise to her cheeks and pulled away. "I need to get my arrows."

No sooner had she picked them up did Fíli run through the brush, snapping several stick beneath his heavy treads and pushing the low branches of trees out of the way. "Kí! Tup!" He announced, panting as they came into view. They looked up questioningly. "Some of the ponies are gone!"

* * *

_**Sorry I've left you there but I have some bad news. This is the last chapter I have written, before this point I had chapters backed up and now I have nothing. So that means that until about June, you probably won't get any updates. I have my GCSE's coming up! Yay! (Not) And since these grades are the ones that'll follow me around for the rest of my life, I kind of need to concentrate on them. I hope you understand.**_

_**However, it still stands that the more reviews I get, the more I'll want to write when I get the chance. So please send reviews because you'll still be more likely to get updates. **_

_**Thank you so much for reading and for now, goodbye, I'll see you when I'm sleep deprived, stressed out and nervous as nobodies business as I wait for GCSE results. If you're lucky, I might find time to update between them, but just in case, goodbye and good luck to anybody is a similar position to me. **_


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